What happens when a hurricane meets e-scooters? A ‘Scooternado,’ Florida fears.

What happens when a hurricane meets e-scooters? A ‘Scooternado,’ Florida fears.

As people in cities across Florida track Hurricane Dorian’s path, board up businesses and stuff sandbags, they are also clearing the streets of what could become deadly projectiles in hurricane-force winds: dockless electric scooters.

Key findings

On both coasts, in Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, city officials and dockless scooter companies are executing plans to disable, collect and store the two-wheeled contraptions that have captured Americans’ curiosity and cluttered their sidewalks, roadways and college campuses.

Lime is pulling a total of 1,500 scooters and 500 bicycles from Orlando, Miami and Fort Lauderdale and reducing its “fleet” in Tampa, a company spokesperson said. In Miami, Bird is “safely storing” its scooters, and Lyft has temporarily paused scooter operations and placed 244 machines in a warehouse. Jump scooters, which are owned by the ride-sharing company Uber, has removed 250 scooters from Miami and 300 from Tampa.

In anticipation of hurricane season, these scooter companies developed collection plans in concert with city officials. Spokesmen for Lime, Jump, Lyft and Bird said they are monitoring Dorian’s path and heeding safety guidance.

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