Scooter sharing has made its way to Lubbock and Mayor Dan Pope spared no time before complaining about how the companies that came to town didn’t seek permission to be there.
In an interview with KCBD, Pope complained that Bird, the company that operates the service, “should have made us aware” that the scooters were operating in Lubbock. He referred to different Texas cities’ experience in dealing with the scooters and said that he “just wants to do it right.” Although the mayor did not elaborate on exactly what “right” means, he did say that they were operating without a permit.
Indeed, even the city of Austin, who had previously barred the scooters from operating, quickly backed off of their previous ban.
Pope ran as a conservative during his campaign for mayor. However, he is now upset because of lack of government intervention in the scooter market? Sadly, this is not Pope’s first instance of going against conservative principles, as he has also called for heavy regulations on the food trucks spreading throughout the city, complaining about their “capitalist spirit.”
Texas Tech University is a massive campus, covering over 1,839 acres in Lubbock, Texas. Since recently arriving, Bird Scooters have been helpful to the students in the city by helping them to travel through campus efficiently and, aside from the mayor’s complaint that the company did not ask his permission before coming in, there have been no major complaints about the scooters.
If the scooters are a burden to Lubbock residents, they should decide that by boycotting the product, not by taxing them into oblivion. As it stands now, the scooters appear to be a useful tool, paid for by private citizens, that likely should be left untouched by the hand of government. Mayor Pope should stop impeding progress, and let the market take its course.
