So Tampa has extended its e-scooter pilot program another year to allow time for the coronavirus to pass and the world to return to normal. Keep in mind that this is a program whose “normal” was pre-pandemic problematic–from its business-model littering to its fraught presence in a mass transit-challenged urban market notoriously dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists.
And now, even on a reduced basis, it will linger on through COVID with the possibility, if not likelihood, that scooters–delusive promises of conscientious wipe downs notwithstanding–will become de facto contamination conduits around town. Why risk a mobile sanitation nightmare–or is urban hip still worth it?