If you drive around the Valley you're likely to see electric scooters on sidewalks, in neighborhoods and in popular areas like Mill Avenue in Tempe or Scottsdale Fashion Square.

Bike-share programs that have docking stations have been in metro Phoenix since 2014. But once dockless bikes popped up in 2017 and dockless scooters in 2018, they immediately drew criticism.

You might be wondering: Why are they here? Are they safe to ride? How are they changing the Valley?

In this episode of The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com's Valley 101 podcast, we look at all the ways electric scooters and bikes are affecting our cities.

In this episode, you'll hear: What it's like to be a charger for electric scooter companies like Bird and Lime.What safety issues scooters are bringing to the forefront in our communities?Whether or not scooters will change transportation as we know it.

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