The Miami City Commission voted to ban shared e-scooters last week, three years after the transport mode first became available in the city.
The ban, which was passed in a five to four vote last Thursday, came into effect from 19 November, with the companies required to remove the devices from the streets immediately.
Speaking following the vote, Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla told Mass Transit magazine: “We’re shutting it down. That’s it.
“On Biscayne Boulevard, at whatever hour of the day, you see kids on these scooters. This is an accident waiting to happen.”
Operators that had a presence in the city including Lyft and Lime have expressed their disapproval with the decision, describing it as a move away from “sustainable transportation”.
“It comes as more of a shock to our tens of thousands of riders and the dozens of Miami-based workers we employ whose livelihoods are being toyed with,” said Lime Senior Director of Government Relations Phil Jones.
“We’ve long worked with the City of Miami to provide safe, affordable, and sustainable transportation options for residents and visitors and we’ve invested millions of dollars into our micromobility program here.”
Caroline Samponaro, VP of transit, bike and scooter policy at Lyft, added: “We’re extremely disappointed in the Commission’s hasty and short-sighted action to end the scooter program, taking away a safe and popular transportation option used by thousands of Miami residents daily and putting dozens of workers out of a job the week before Thanksgiving.”
