A kid rides a Lime scooter in 2018 near Lakeview Commons.

Bill Rozak / Tahoe Daily Tribune

It’s not hard to find people out enjoying a ride on one of the electric scooters recently brought to South Lake Tahoe. It’s also not hard to find a scooter user breaking the law.

Since Lime — formerly known as LimeBike — brought its fleet of 250 electric scooters to South Lake Tahoe earlier this month, the machines have been a controversial topic of conversation — much like the green bikes when they first arrived on South Shore last summer.

From a law enforcement standpoint, though, the arrival of the e-scooters has been complicated.

“It’s both a public safety concern and a compliance with the law concern,” said South Lake Tahoe Police Chief Brian Uhler.

Under California law, motorized scooters cannot be operated without a driver’s license, helmets are required for all-ages, there is no riding on sidewalks (though bike paths are allowed), and only one person is allowed per scooter.

Riders also are required to obey all traffic laws and cannot operate a scooter under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Take a quick drive down U.S. 50 in South Lake Tahoe, and it’s not difficult to see almost every single one of those rules being broken.

“The simple reality is that most people who come to visit Tahoe are not traveling with their bicycle helmet. At any given time there are probably 100 people riding around town without a helmet or two people on the scooter,” said Uhler. “I have limited police resources to address this. We will enforce violations that are egregious, but we can’t cite them all.”

And while Lime does require new users to go through a safety tutorial in the app outlining the laws prior to riding for the first time, that hasn’t stopped people from riding around without helmets and booking rides for underage users (Lime says you must be 18 or older to ride).

“Each rider can only unlock one scooter at a time so that means that the rider at the very least needs to have a smartphone and a credit card,” said Stefanie Farradet, Lime operations manager in South Lake Tahoe.

Farradet noted that users also can request a helmet through the app for free, and the company will send one to their home address.

“We have so many sports stores and bicycle rental shops where people can buy helmets, too,” said Farradet. “We are encouraging people to wear helmets.”

On June 12, California Highway Patrol located an 18-year-old female who had crashed on Emerald Bay Road on a Lime-S. She sustained “moderate injuries” and was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to a Facebook post by the agency.

“There are certainly a lot of people having fun on them out there. There’s no doubt there,” added Uhler. “But it’s whether or not they are following the law while doing it.”

Reno welcomes bikes

Meanwhile it’s been over a month since Reno-Sparks welcomed the dockless bike sharing program to its streets, and from all indications, the influx of 1,000 lime green cruisers seems to be going well.

“Ridership has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Aaron Brukman, Reno operations manager for Lime.

On a single Saturday this June, Lime tallied 1,700 rides, said Brukman.

And driving around Reno-Sparks, it’s common to see the bikes in use. For only $1 per 30 minutes, anyone with a cellphone can unlock and ride, ultimately leaving the bike wherever the trip ends.

Lime has a team of employees working for 10 hours a day, seven days a week to ensure the bikes are properly distributed throughout the region, including on the University of Nevada, Reno campus and Reno-Sparks Indian Colony.

Though there have been some instances of bikes intentionally put in weird locations — including atop the archway of the Virginia Street Bridge in Downtown Reno — the program seems to generally be well received.

“There is still quite a learning curve for users in terms of appropriate parking, bike safety, and bike etiquette. We’re committed to continuing to help folks through that learning curve with our partner, Lime,” said Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve.

Schieve said the community can expect a report from Lime summarizing the first month of ridership data soon.

“We’re told that more than 12,000 people have already enjoyed Lime in Reno,” added Schieve.

Members of the business community have noticed the benefits of the increased bike presence, especially in the concentrated downtown area.

“We have been really happy with this ‘green’ guest in the city of Reno, both in their bright color, healthy environmental impacts and the connectivity they bring to the downtown,” said Britton Griffith, president of the Riverwalk Merchants Association, in an email.

“We are pleased to see both residents and tourists rent one to go from a restaurant to a bar; a resident to take a faster route to the movie theater and even employees of the downtown area to hop over to a meeting.”