DILAPIDATED LEFT-OVER OLD BIRD E-SCOOTERS DUMPED AGAIN ON THE SIDEWALKS OF MAIN STREET HERE IN DOWNTOWN MESA

Update from The Verge TODAY on new versions

Bird’s scooters will now emit annoying beeps when you drive on the sidewalk

0 New, 1 comment

Using GPS technology to prevent unsafe riding

By Andrew J. Hawkins@andyjayhawk Oct 13, 2021, 6:00am EDT

 

"Riding an electric scooter on the sidewalk is dangerous, but scooter-sharing companies have struggled to prevent their customers from engaging in risky behavior. Bird thinks it has found a solution: annoying beeps.

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1 MESAZONA BLOG INSERT FROM OCTOBER 2018

2 MESAZONA BLOG INSERT FROM NOVEMBER 2018

 

1 MESAZONA BLOG INSERT FROM OCTOBER 2018

Threats To Public Safety Here in Downtown Mesa: Dumping E-Scooters On Public Sidewalks

Don't know about you, dear readers, but your MesaZona keeps his eyes open walking around our shared public spaces and sidewalks downtown.
There were some obstacles in the way the other day in what was otherwise a wonderful day: 2 e-scooters.
Where  did they come from and why are they here? They didn't look  like personal property with corporate logos, attached gizmos and "Start for Only $1". 
Some money-making scheme under the guise of furthering personal freedom, mobility and protecting the environment?
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That's exactly what it is, once again - 'a foil' disguised as a good thing.The first question any reasonable person might ask is if the city government had knowledge in advance of these plans (not just one but two companies) and approved their dockless distribution and dumping on downtown sidewalks without any evaluation or any kind of public information or public notice ahead of time.
Each and every one of them are endangering the health, safety and welfare of riders, pedestrians and the general public

 

2 MESAZONA BLOG INSERT FROM NOVEMBER 2018

Threats & Risks To Public Safety + Gross Negligence by The City of Mesa

It's nothing that Mayor John Giles or the Mesa City Council doesn't know about by now after a citizen Robert Allen spoke up at Monday's public meeting about his concerns over the dumping  of  E-Scooters on the sidewalks all around downtown.
It's now Friday mid-morning when the opening image clearly shows these hazards to public safety on Main Street public sidewalks.  
No doubt about it.
Back on October 20th this post was published to make both the public and city officials aware of the problem:
Threats To Public Safety Here in Downtown Mesa: Dumping E-Scooters On Public Sidewalks
3 weeks later, we still have a problem 

To make it ever more clear here's another image taken right across from City Hall at the NWC of Center/Main Streets >

To repeat:
Each and every one of them are endangering the health, safety and welfare of riders, pedestrians and the general public here in downtown Mesa.

WHAT'S THE CITY'S ACTION?

Apparently nothing

 

The first question any reasonable person might ask is if the city government had knowledge in advance of these plans (not just one but two companies) and approved their dockless distribution and dumping on downtown sidewalks without any evaluation or any kind of public information or public notice ahead of time.
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20 October 2018

Threats To Public Safety Here in Downtown Mesa: Dumping E-Scooters On Public Sidewalks

Don't know about you, dear readers, but your MesaZona keeps his eyes open walking around our shared public spaces and sidewalks downtown.
There were some obstacles in the way the other day in what was otherwise a wonderful day: 2 e-scooters.
Where  did they come from and why are they here? They didn't look  like personal property with corporate logos, attached gizmos and "Start for Only $1". 
Some money-making scheme under the guise of furthering personal freedom, mobility and protecting the environment?
_________________________________________________________________________
That's exactly what it is, once again - 'a foil' disguised as a good thing.
The first question any reasonable person might ask is if the city government had knowledge in advance of these plans (not just one but two companies) and approved their dockless distribution and dumping on downtown sidewalks without any evaluation or any kind of public information or public notice ahead of time.
Each and every one of them are endangering the health, safety and welfare of riders, pedestrians and the general public.  
_________________________________________________________________________
Typical of way too many things here in Mesa where the public is not engaged. Worse than that is when city officials apparently don't do anything about hazards to public safety.
People in other cities are taking action:
INNOVATIONS
Class-action lawsuit accuses e-scooter companies of ‘gross negligence’
October 20 at 6:55 PM
 "The nation’s electronic-scooter companies are facing more blowback as concerns rise about the safety of these devices — this time in the form of a class-action lawsuit filed Friday in California.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, accuses two of the largest e-scooter companies, Lime and Bird, as well as other e-scooter firms, of “gross negligence” and “aiding and abetting assault.”

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of eight initial plaintiffs, says the companies' practices have contributed to injuries in multiple ways. By “dumping” scooters on public streets without an appropriate warning, the suit alleges e-scooter companies acted negligently and should have known that their devices would become a dangerous “public nuisance.”

PLEASE READ MORE > https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology 

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Using technology provided by a company called u-blox, Bird is rolling out an end-to-end GPS system “designed to deliver centimeter-level accuracy specifically for the micromobility industry.” Riders who stray onto the sidewalk will be bombarded with audio alerts from the scooter, as well as notifications on their smartphones, warning them to get back on the street. Failure to follow directions results in a de-powered scooter: the vehicle will slow down and eventually come to a stop. The problem Bird is trying to solve is a seemingly intractable one. Riders have a difficult time tracking down available scooters when they want one. And scooters sometimes block sidewalks, obstructing the path for people in wheelchairs and other pedestrians with mobility concerns. They all end up cluttered in a handful of places rather than spread evenly around a city. And cities have complained about the companies failing to place enough scooters in low-income and minority communities to ensure equal distribution across economic lines.

Lime says it uses “a sophisticated statistical model” with 95 percent accuracy to determine when a scooter has gone up onto a sidewalk. Other scooter companies have invested in remote-operation technology, including cameras and other sensors, to improve fleet management. These front- and rear-facing built-in cameras enable remote operators to move the scooters when they happen to be blocking sidewalks or street traffic. They can also make it possible for an e-scooter to travel several blocks to riders.

But Bird claims that its GPS-based solution is easier and cheaper to roll out than expensive camera-based systems. It also says that u-blox’s ZED-F9R module (great name) will make it easier for customers to find nearby scooters, even in cities with tall buildings that typically obstruct satellite signals. This is how it works:

The ZED-F9R is a dual-band multi-constellation GNSS receiver that supports up to 8 times more satellite signal types and 4 times more constellations (GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, and BeiDou) than standard solutions. The module processes real-time vehicle data including wheel speed, IMU sensor data including acceleration and spatial orientation, and real-time kinematic data that corrects for ionospheric interference. The technology is also optimized for e-scooters by applying dynamic models matching the movements of the vehicle.

Bird is also using what it calls “centimeter-level sidewalk mapping” to determine when a scooter has left the road and onto a sidewalk. This allows the company to create a geofence that deactivates the scooter’s throttle when it enters a prohibited zone. Centimeter level, you say? How?

Step 1: It starts with a geofence outline constructed from satellite imagery or city GIS data.

Step 2: From here, we use surveying equipment to measure the location of three city landmarks. Only a few measurements are needed for each city.

Step 3: Once the landmarks have been identified, we compare their location to the satellite imagery to determine offsets and rotations.

Step 4: We then use these offsets and rotation values to shift and transform each of our original geofence outlines.

Step 5: Finally, after our geofence outlines have been updated, they are pre-loaded onto our vehicles to eliminate latency.

Bird says it will be testing the new system in scooters deployed in Milwaukee and San Diego, with Madrid to soon follow. If all goes well, the company plans to roll it out to the rest of the global fleet “soon.”