A scooter and e-bike rental company has reprogrammed its vehicles so they can’t be parked outside Seattle’s immigration court, where protesters used them to impede Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, Straight Arrow News has learned. Lime changed GPS settings on its scooters and bikes to create a no-parking zone outside the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building in downtown Seattle.
Lime says it acted to ensure its riders’ safety, not to assist ICE or other law enforcement agencies.
Scene of ongoing protests
The change follows a June 10 protest against immigration raids carried out to fulfill President Donald Trump’s pledge of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Protesters used “dozens of e-bikes and scooters” to create a barricade at the federal building, KIRO-TV of Seattle reported. One such barricade, as seen in footage posted to social media, was used “to slow down an ICE bus from leaving,” KIRO said.
The federal building has been the site of ongoing protests as ICE brings detainees to court hearings.
Geofencing
However, in a video posted to Instagram on June 11 by an independent media blog in Seattle, The Burner, a resident on an e-scooter noticed that Lime’s app no longer showed the federal building as a designated parking area.
The restriction means a rider would continue being charged if the scooter or e-bike was left in the area. The vehicles’ wheels lock when they’re not in use, and they emit an alarm if moved without payment.
In a statement to Straight Arrow News, Hayden Harvey, Lime’s director of government relations, said the company had worked with the Seattle Department of Transportation to modify its service at the site of the protest.
“Last weekend, we worked to adjust our service to prioritize the safety of our team and our riders in coordination with the SDOT,” Harvey said. “Since then, we have continued to work with the city, SDOT, and community stakeholders to ensure the safest possible, uninterrupted service.”
The company said it took action in a “localized way,” so it would not disrupt service on bike lanes on the street outside the federal building. Lime said law enforcement was not involved in the decision.
Geofencing was also used to limit the use of scooters and e-bikes on the day of the 2024 presidential election. The Portland Bureau of Transportation, which oversees roughly 3,500 scooters and e-bikes from Lime and Lyft, prohibited riding or parking in the Oregon city’s downtown area over fears of potential protests.
Waymo, the autonomous vehicle ride-hailing service, is also using geofencing across Los Angeles and San Francisco in response to anti-ICE protests.
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Author: Mathew Grisham
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