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Electric Scooters Thrive In Florida As They Vanish From Some Other Parts Of U.S.

Amy Beth Bennett
/
Sun Sentinel
A man crosses SE 3rd Ave. on an electric scooter along Las Olas Boulevard in downtown Fort Lauderdale in November.

Electric scooter rentals are likely to stay in Florida — even though some companies have started pulling their business out of other parts of the country.

The e-scooters, which grew popular on U.S. streets in 2018, have helped thousands of tourists, residents and even well-tailored businesspeople quickly get around the streets. But they’ve also drawn public safety concerns as the number of accidents kept mounting. And cities such as Fort Lauderdale, one of the first Florida cities to allow them, still are refining their rules for the two-wheeled devices, focused on safety.

The customer demand remains strong in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando and Tampa, says Lime, one of the scooter companies. “In the state of Florida, we’ve had over 900,000 trips and out of those those trips we have had over 1 million miles traveled,” said Uhriel Bedoya, Florida general manager for Lime.

Read more at the Sun Sentinel.

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