Save Bike-Share!

California Bike-Share Is Under Threat

If AB 371 passes, we won’t be able to expand shared micromobility programs to low-income communities that need them.

AB 371 endangers shared bikes and scooters in California

The California State Senate is considering a bill that will endanger bike and scooter sharing in California. It’s absolutely crucial to voice your opposition to this dangerous bill today.

The Kill Bike-Share Bill (AB 371) would require providers of shared scooters (whether a private company, non-profit, or a transit agency) to carry insurance to pay for injuries caused through no fault of their own including by the rider’s own negligence. It requires a study that is likely to lead to a similar requirement for shared bikes in the future.

AB 371 doesn’t solve the problem

Here’s the problem AB 371 is really trying to solve: Sometimes a rider parks a shared scooter or bike (most often a scooter) carelessly. Devices can block sidewalks, fall over, and cause tripping hazards. A bill to truly solve this problem might impose new requirements for parking or storing shared micromobility devices to keep sidewalks clear and prevent injuries.

That’s not what AB 371 does. This bill is more interested in profiting off injuries than preventing them. It seeks insurance settlements for personal injury lawyers and their clients. It does nothing to create safer, healthier communities. It will end up increasing driving and all of the harms associated with such an increase: increased injuries and fatalities from traffic crashes, reduced economic security for low-income people who rely on bike and scooter sharing, and worse pollution in already burdened neighborhoods

The Kill Bike-Share Bill singles out shared micromobility for an onerous insurance requirement. That will drive up the costs of bike and scooter sharing so severely that many programs will have to be canceled, and our hopes of expansion into low-income communities will be dashed.

California needs real solutions

California faces a host of problems: drought, fires, the climate crisis, homelessness, economic inequality, dangerous streets. Our senators should spend their time on real solutions.

Bike and scooter sharing systems are essential to help mitigate climate change by reducing carbon emissions. The Kill Bike-Share Bill solves nothing and is likely to make California’s problems worse.

If passed, AB 371 would have a devastating impact on equitable mobility. Please take action today!

Insurance requirement comparison

Type of vehicle
Average weight
Top speed
Required coverage for bolidy injury

Automobile
4,000 pounds
80+ mph
$15,000 (current CA insurance minimum)

Bike-share bike
45 pounds
18 mph
$10,000 (if AB 371 passes)

4 reasons to save California bike-share

Bike sharing is transforming transportation in communities around the globe and across California. Our state deserves this valuable transit option. Here are just four of the many benefits of bike-share:

Bike sharing systems have reduced car traffic by millions of miles and promise even greater reductions in the future.
They are an essential last-mile link for public transit.
Where bike-share is subsidized like public transit (as it should be) it reduces inequality by providing an affordable transportation option for people who don’t have cars and rely on transit, walking, and biking for their trips.
Shared bikes are among the safest kinds of transportation: safer even than personal bikes statistically.