Scooters banned from San Jose’s big weekend street event

If you were thinking about touring around Viva CalleSJ on an electric scooter, get ready for some bad news. The scooters are officially a no-go for San Jose’s huge “open streets” event on Sunday.

Most people know that cars, trucks and motorcycles have been temporarily banned from streets along the Viva CalleSJ route since the annual event was launched in 2015. But that prohibition covers any motorized vehicle, and the city’s Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services department says electric scooters — operated mostly by Lime and Bird in San Jose — fall under that category. (Motorized scooters, wheelchairs or e-bikes with disabled placards are allowed.)

This year’s six-mile route connects downtown and south San Jose, mostly along Monterey Road, with end points in the SoFA District on First and William streets and Martial Cottle Park on Branham Lane and Snell Avenue. Thousands of people are expected to walk, run, bike, skate or just play along the route from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (There’s a raft of related activities planned, and details — with a map showing where vehicles can cross the route — are available at www.vivacallesj.org.)

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San Jose: 6 miles of streets to be shut down Sunday for Viva CalleSJ The irony here is that scooters may break the letter of Viva CalleSJ’s law but they’re in line with its spirit. The idea behind the event is to allow people to explore the city in a car-free way, and zipping around on a scooter qualifies — if it’s done safely. And certainly there are already cyclists who speed through the route much faster than the scooters’ 15 mph top speed.

The parks department says it’s reached out to Lime and Bird and asked them to share the information through their channels, but it’s laughable to think the route will be scooter-free. After all, banning something and enforcing that ban are two different things. Just ask anyone who’s unexpectedly inhaled a lungful of marijuana smoke at a concert.

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