10-02-2018, 12:58 PM
(10-02-2018, 11:45 AM)Canard Wrote: Was was it so hard for DropBike to start up? Why was it so delayed? To people like me, the general public who don't know the "insides" of what's going on, this makes DropBike look like the bad guy (are they? I have no idea) because they said they were starting here, and then they didn't.
What were Council's answers to the question of why Limescooter or whoever can start up so easily?
Welcome to the Region of Waterloo where the governments are made up and boundaries don't matter.
Well, that's the short answer...the long answer is that DropBike...for whatever historical reason, was told that they had to launch a pilot within the entire region, including all three cities...
As a result, they have been put through an extensive process making an agreement with all three cities as well as, and at least according to the City of Waterloo, the particular sticking point, the Region of Waterloo. The region required a much more extensive process than CoW claims that it wanted.
As a result, DropBike spent more than a year negotiating, where Lime scooter was approved in an afternoon. I'm exaggerating here, I assume there was substantial behind the scenes discussion, as well, Lime scooter's pilot is *supposed* to be more restricted, users are not permitted to ride the scooters outside of the pilot area, or on public roads/rights of way, only trails and private property--DropBike feels these restrictions won't actually be enforced.