For Detroiters and those electric rental scooters, the honeymoon is over.

In the 2½ months since the first batch of Bird scooters arrived in downtown, there have been numerous near-misses between racing scooters and pedestrians — and some sidewalk collisions resulting in injuries.

The number of incidents seems to have grown since a second scooter company, Lime, deployed its own Detroit fleet in late August, bringing the city's daily scooter total to between 500 and 600. That number fluctuates each day, depending on how many "Birds" or "Limes" are down for maintenance or have been vandalized.

There is also growing annoyance at the poor scooter parking etiquette of some riders who leave their scooters in the path of pedestrians or in places where they easily tip over. And others don't even bother to park their scooters upright and just drop them on the ground.

“They mainly leave them wherever they want to, wherever they feel like putting them," said valet parking attendant Michael Brown, whose job now includes rearranging the scooters that people place in front of the Ford Building on Griswold in downtown. “Sometimes they leave them in the middle of the sidewalk, too.”

So far, there is no widespread backlash in Detroit against scooters. City residents, workers and weekend visitors who try them out typically report having fun. Some people have fully embraced the scooters and use them every day to commute or just get around.

A third scooter company, Spin, says it is preparing to launch in Detroit within a month. It remains unclear when the companies plan to store their scooters for the winter. Bird Rides recently introduced a more rugged scooter — the Bird Zero — that may have better handling on ice and snow.

Yet there are now more mixed feelings in Detroit about scooters than when the Birds and Limes first hit the streets. It's an open question whether gripes and safety concerns will lead to tighter city regulations, particularly concerning the rule that allows scooters on sidewalks so long as they present "a low risk of disturbance" to pedestrians, who still have right of way.

Some cities, including Ann Arbor and Columbus, Ohio, have completely banned the scooters from sidewalks.

Near misses

Detroit resident and downtown worker Corey Greenleaf, 41, said he is now extra vigilant when walking downtown after experiencing a few near-misses from scooters zipping by him on the sidewalk.

The built-in speed limit for scooters in Detroit is 15 mph. There have been unverified claims that some scooters can go faster.

“Whenever I walk, I turn my head first to see if they are coming because they just zoom by with no care at all, and it’s frustrating," Greenleaf said. To stay out of the scooters' way, “I just stay to the extreme left or the extreme right.”

Real collisions

There was a scooter-versus-pedestrian crash Wednesday near Campus Martius Park in downtown. The collision was hard enough to throw both individuals to the ground, although neither the rider nor pedestrian reported injuries needing medical attention.

A private security guard told the Free Press that she saw a female riding a scooter on the sidewalk in front of the food truck area when, at about 11:45 a.m., her scooter hit a man who was walking. Both individuals fell to the sidewalk, said the Liberty Security guard, who would only give her name as Officer Hill.

"Out of nowhere, before I could say anything, she was already on him, hit him, and down he went," Hill said. "She fell with him, so obviously (she) didn’t just bump him ... she was trying to apologize. He accepted it. But he was pretty PO’ed.”

City officials say they have yet to receive any complaints about the new rental scooters.

The Detroit Police Department did not respond to comment and information requests this week about scooter incidents.

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There are no precise numbers for scooter-related injuries. Doctors and staff at the Detroit Medical Center have reported seeing a few patients who were hurt because of scooters, but their injuries only get marked as scooter injuries if they were trauma-level, according to a DMC spokesman.

Most people who fall off a scooter don't report their injuries.

Zach Almayali, 21, of Detroit, who rides a Bird or Lime nearly every day, said he was once thrown off a scooter when he hit a road pothole. He suffered no sprains or broken bones, so he got up and kept riding.

In street interviews this week, several scooter riders and nonriders said they witnessed near collisions between scooters and autos. These close calls typically involved reckless scooter riders in their teens or early 20s.

"Some of them just aren’t looking where they are going," Greenleaf said. "I saw someone almost run into a bus the other day. They were riding in the (Rosa Parks Transit Center) and the bus turned, and they turned in front of the bus.”

Wayward Birds, fallen Limes

The Free Press spotted numerous scooters this week that were left in walking paths along sidewalks or were on the ground. The back wheel of one fallen scooter even reached into the outdoor patio of the upscale Townhouse restaurant on Woodward.

Corey Mitchel, 38, of Harper Woods had to navigate around two side-by-side Lime scooters on the ground next to the Old Wayne County Building.

“It’s crazy, they just throw this (expletive) down," he said. “Yesterday, I come out of break, there’s a scooter sitting right in front of my door, laid down flat. I just walked over it.”

The popularity of scooters may be cutting into ridership of the MoGo rental bikes, which, unlike Birds and Limes, must be picked up and returned to docking stations. Scooters can be set down and parked nearly anywhere.

Chris Rogers, 27, of Taylor said that since the scooters arrived, he has stopped using MoGos when visiting or working in downtown.

"This is better than the bikes," he said. “With MoGo, you have to go to a certain location. You may have to walk a couple blocks, maybe half a mile. But the scooters, you can stop, drop off, and just be about your business.”

In a statement, MoGo Executive Director Lisa Nuszkowski said the total number of MoGo riders continues to grow and that there will soon be 44 bike stations in Detroit and, by next spring, an additional 30 MoGo stations in Berkley, Ferndale, Huntington Woods, Oak Park and Royal Oak.

"We believe that the city and region need more mobility options and that there is room for multiple modes in our growing transportation ecosystem," Nuszkowski said.

The scooter companies pay cash to people who find and recharge low-battery scooters overnight. Bird recently lowered its standard recharge payment in Detroit to $3 from $5, although the maximum payment for hard-to-find scooters is still $20.

A Lime representative did not respond to a comment request for this article.

Contact JC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JCReindl.

Contact Marc Daalder: mdaalder@freepress.com or on Twitter at @marcdaalder.