Chair Abreu asks about JOCO sidewalk detection technology and support for legislation
Abreu mentions JOCO's sidewalk detection technology and asks if DOT would support legislation if the technology works, and DOT says they are meeting with JOCO and are open to it.
Thank you, Councilmember.
And since we're on the topic, and I'd rather not bring it up later, I'll just ask now.
We have seen...
Joko, a ride share system, they're going to be using this for their entire fleet.
And we just, you know, we did a demonstration with the speaker.
You know, we were very, very impressed by the technology.
Within a few seconds, the bikes slow down.
It's not an immediate shutoff, so it's not dangerous.
It is a slowdown after two seconds it gets on the sidewalk to the point where it slows down and becomes a bike.
It never just stops.
And so if you are traveling at a normal bike speed, this should never be a situation where it's actually dangerous.
Understood, Chair.
Maddie reminded me, we are actually meeting with JOCO very soon, so we're looking forward to learning more.
You know, again, we'll see, right, there's different perspectives, and then there's sort of looking at something at a small scale and then scaling it up.
So we're certainly open to these kinds of ideas.
And if the technology, if you're...
Your engagement with Joko and your visit of technology is impressive.
I mean, we certainly like to have follow-up conversations on that because we, to your point, I do believe that technology can get there and should be getting there.
But once big operators like Joko, they have 5,000 fleet, obviously not as big as some other actors, but if they're able to do that,
it's important that we also regulate the ride share ecosystem as a whole because you don't want to create an incentive for people to not do Joko because it slows them down on the sidewalk.
It would have to be evenly applied.
So assuming the technology is there, would you be in support of this legislation?
Yeah, that's a great point about the overall market.
You know, again, we're very supportive of the intent and would be eager to sit down and look at it with you and work through some of these questions.
If the technology is there, I think we should be requiring bikes to slow down on sidewalks as part of ride share systems.
That's my position.