Scooters will be available in West, Northwest and Southwest Side neighborhoods after months of decision-making about how to make the program safe and fair. The technology has been both popular and controversial in other major cities, such as San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Scooters have been a source of contention because riders sometimes leave them behind in ways that block sidewalks, and because both riders and bystanders have been injured by them. Eleven electric scooter riders have been killed since the beginning of 2018, according to the Associated Press.