Coming Soon: Parking Spaces For Brookline's Electric Scooters

BROOKLINE, MA — You may soon see a more orderly parking when it comes to electric scooters around town. Lime is working with the town to create small painted parking lots on the street to correspond to the digital parking lots or "corrals" for the scooters.

Lime has done something similar parking spaces in Santa Monica, CA and in Hoboken, NJ.

Brookline is planning to roll out digital corrals for e-scooter parking in the heart of our highest pedestrian areas of Brookline Village, Coolidge Corner, and JFK Crossing.

"To address complaints about how scooters are parked and to balance safety, we created corrals to ensure scooters are not left obstructing sidewalks. These digital corrals allow users to know where to park and allow everyone else to move freely and unobstructed," said Brookline Select Board member Heather Hamilton in a statement.

There are three companies offering electric scooter rides around town. And with almost 100,000 scooter rides on Lime scooters alone since April, it appears electric scooters have become popular options for first-and-last mile transportation around town.

Lime said because of that they wanted to work with the Town of Brookline to "proactively implement safer bike parking" mechanisms.

Bird scooters have also worked with the town to integrate in-app parking information for riders.

"We look forward to seeing how additional parking information can benefit the current program, and future operations in the town," said a representative in a statement, calling the partnership with the town collaborative, thoughtful and encouraging. "Bird is committed to encouraging responsible parking practices."

The pilot program started with e-scooter company Lime and Bird, then added Spin, a third company in August. The pilot will run into November.

"We've seen tremendous results from Brookline's e-scooter pilot program," said Scott Mullen, Lime's director of Northeast expansion. "The success of the town's pilot underscores scooters' ability to fill gaps in existing transportation networks, and is proof that scooters can benefit Metro-Boston residents who grapple with the worst traffic congestion in the country."

A number of residents have bemoaned rule-breaking by the scooter riders, including children using them, although you must be 18 to ride them. People opposed to the scooters also say they've seen multiple people riding on the side walk or without helmets, which is also against the regulations. Others complain that some people leave scooters in the middle of, rather than to the side of, the sidewalk, thereby making it difficult for pedestrians in some spots.

Transportation Director Todd Kirrane told the Select Board earlier this year that he took several recommendations for the program based on feedback his office received from the public, including implementing more enforcement of rules by having the police department hire a full time bike/e-scooter enforcement and education officer.

Kirrane said the corrals officially went into effect Monday.

"We created digital corrals on Monday in the heart of Brookline Village, Coolidge Corner, and JFK Crossing where we have a combination of high pedestrian volumes and/or narrow sidewalks," he said.

Look for the painted lines.

The digital corrals should be up within a week on the apps, according to company spokespeople.

Previously:

• Brookline's Electric Scooter Pilot Usage At 6 Months
• Electric Scooter Pilot To Include Another Company
• Electric Scooter Pilot To Start In Brookline
• Rider Injured As E-Scooters Launch In Massachusetts
• E-scooter diary: Brookline should set the standard for safety
• As Complaints Mount, Scooter Lessons At Coolidge Corner

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).