The difference being that these scooters are typically if not always left on sidewalks which are public property, not land the business has paved over for a parking lot.
Yes, they can, if they are impeding the use of a public right of way. When someone parks a car on the (public) street outside of your driveway, blocking you in, you can call a tow company to have it removed, and they would be legally justified in removing it and charging the owner for the impound.
It's kinda established that if you park like an asshole, someone might call a towing company, and they'll charge you a fee to release your car. In that case you've got a potentially shady towing company and their legal people lined up against an individual who owns a vehicle that was parked somewhere problematic enough that the tow company was prepared to risk towing it.
There's a different power dynamic when it's small local shady towing company versus VC backed "growth hacking" disruptive startup, who potentially have some fairly high powered legal services if not on retainer themselves, quite like available to them via their investors or stop accelerator...
I read recently Uber were talking about getting into the bike/scooter rental space? Pretty sure I'd advise against local small business towing company/franchise from risking getting into a lawyer fight with Uber...
I don't think it's a stretch to say that the property owner is also responsible for keeping the sidewalk negotiable when somebody illegally dumps a piano on it. From my experience formerly owning property in Philadelphia, it was my impression that keeping the sidewalk clear of anything was my responsibility.
I couldn't find anything about trash on sidewalks in San Diego, but their government page on sidewalks suggest that property owners are partially responsible for maintenance costs of sidewalks:
> Normal sidewalk wear and tear or age damage is the responsibility of the homeowner who can take advantage of the City's 50/50 Cost Sharing Program to help offset the cost of repairs.
https://www.sandiego.gov/street-div/services/roadways/sidewa...
This suggests to me that responsibility for clearing out crap dumped on the sidewalk on your property is probably also the responsibility of the property owner. And if some freak weather caused a blizzard in San Diego, I'd expect property owners would be obligated to clear the snow as well (or pay somebody else to do it.)
I've never had to think about it, but I'm now trying to figure out my options if people left large objects on my sidewalk. I throw away litter. But if there was a bunch of bicycles or scooters, I'd probably ignore them for a bit and hope the owner came back to retrieve them. If it was blocking my driveway or causing a problem, I'd move them off the sidewalk and onto the adjoining grass. If they are left there long enough, I might put a sign to the affect of "this litter will be picked up on __" for the next trash day.
But if I lived in a scooter rental place and this was an ongoing issue, I would definitely be fine with using a service like this.
> Public property does not mean you can obstruct it and use how you want.
>If they leave their property on your property, you're well within your rights to have it removed.
In most cities sidewalks are private property. As one of the conditions of being allowed to build on the property, the developer granted an easement to the city for the sidewalk.
This is why a homeowner is required to remove snow from their sidewalk. It's their sidewalk.
Also I assume if your rental car gets towed, the rental company will try to charge the cost back to you if they have to collect it, or you'll have to pay to get it yourself. You've already agreed to bring the car back to them on x day at y time. Could the scooter companies charge riders the towing fee?
Surely some of them are, so this is already a resolved matter.
> Could the scooter companies charge riders the towing fee?
Why not? They knew who last rode it, and they know were it was parked. If they believe it was parked legally, they can sue the towing company. If they believe the towing company was in the right, they could demand payment from the customer who fucked up. Is that not reasonable?