Brookline To Launch Electric Scooters With Inagural Ride

BROOKLINE, MA — Wanna see some town officials ride electric scooters? No joke: On Monday, April 1, at least one select board member and other town officials will hop on the new ride-share electric scooters and take an inaugural ride around Town Hall. With that ride, Brookline becomes the first town in the state to officially welcome e-scooters to its streets.

Earlier this month, the Select Board approved a six month program that would allow the dock-less motorized, ride share scooters around town. The idea is that residents trade in short car trips for an emissions-free scooter ride.

Instead of a ribbon cutting, representatives from the Town of Brookline and California e-scooter operators, Bird and Lime, will give some brief remarks and answer questions from the community. They'll also have more scooters to demo.

What do the scooters look like: Think hefty razor scooter with a motor, accelerator and hand breaks. Brookline's pilot will start with about 200 scooters on the street, some from Bird and some from Lime. The dockless scooters will have GPS enabled and connect to an app. Potential riders will open the app, find a scooter nearby and unlock it through their smart phones. The scooter companies recommend wearing helmets and only taking the scooters on shorter trips. They also ask that riders leave them in places that are out of the way of cars and aren't blocking the sidewalk.

In January, Gov. Charlie Baker filed a bill that exempts electric scooters from a law that requires signal and brake lights, and rather, classifies them as bikes, which helped pave the way.

The inaugural ride will be 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Monday, April 1, at Brookline Town Hall.

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