MILWAUKEE — If you've been around the city of Milwaukee in the past three years, you've likely seen many dockless scooters.
Lime and Spin are the two scooter companies permitted to operate within city limits, with nearly 3,000 scooters available any day throughout the city.
TMJ4 obtained footage from the Wisconsin DOT that shows an individual riding one of these scooters on highways around downtown Milwaukee.
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Through June, the department has received 108 complaints about dockless scooters, with two-thirds related to improper parking and a quarter concerning sidewalk riding, according to the city's Department of Public Works.
Milwaukee Police tell TMJ4 they have issued 12 citations for e-scooters failing to yield at intersections in 2025, along with one citation each for unsafely entering the roadway and riding on a public way.
Watch: Milwaukeeans react to a mid-year look at city data on Dockless Scooters
"I feel like that's the flaw in their business model, is that you can park them anywhere, which lends itself to destruction and pranksters... In a river or wherever..." said John Hebeler, a visitor to Milwaukee.
According to regulations, scooters are only permitted on city streets, bike lanes, and trails, not on sidewalks, the Riverwalk, or highways. When parked, scooters should be upright and not obstruct sidewalks.
Scooter operators are required to report crashes and injuries to Lime. In 2025, five crashes and three injuries were reported through May, compared to 20 crashes and 15 injuries for all of 2024. However, these numbers are difficult to compare as scooters weren't deployed throughout the entirety of 2023 or 2024.
"It's one of those things where the few people could ruin it for the bigger group of people, obviously that's super dangerous," Said Ben Hernandez.
He is a fan of the scooters, but says some people misuse them.
"People just don't take care of why they're here. They're not meant to be cars. It's wild that that's something that happened," Hernandez said.
Residents can report improper parking or driving directly to Lime, through the app, or on their website.
This story was reported on-air by Brendyn Jones and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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