As the first week of Scootergeddon comes to a close, local businesses are reporting a mix of positive benefits and negative impacts.
VeoRide and Bird e-scooters now line the sidewalk on Gaines Street. Matthew Flanagan is the store manager of Gaines Street Smoke Shop. He says he sees the scooters everyday.
“They go by every day. Tons of people outside. I have actually ridden them myself. They’re tons of fun,” says Flanagan.
Since the e-scooters are located near Gaines Street Smoke Shop, Flanagan says pedestrians stop in on their way to unlock a scooter.
However, not every business is reporting benefits. Evan McLaughlin is the Co-Owner of All Saints Café. He says customers are complaining about scooters disrupting sidewalk traffic.
“I do see them already like large lines of them knocked over and strewn across the sidewalks and stuff. I myself use a bicycle for transportation and they get in my way sometimes to be honest,” says McLaughlin.
Outside All Saints is FAMU student Fungai Mumba. She says Tallahasseans will need time to adjust to the change.
“I think they’re pretty cool for like the downtown area, but like while driving around it’s kind of inconvenient because people are just like in and out of the street and not really staying to one side of the road is what I’ve noticed,” says Fungai.
As of Friday afternoon, Tallahassee Memorial Hospital had not received any patients with injuries from e-scooter accidents and the Tallahassee Police Department had not reported any issues enforcing the law with e-scooter riders.
