Scooter-sharing system

A Bird scooter with a QR code used to unlock it.

A scooter-sharing system is a service in which scooters are made available to use for short-term rentals. The term describes the sharing of mostly electric motor scooters (also referred to as electric mopeds) as well as electric kick scooters. The sharing of scooters is  similar to carsharing or bicycle-sharing systems; with some scooter-sharing companies offering more than one type of vehicle via their service.

Scooters are generally "dockless", meaning that they do not have a fixed home location, and are dropped off and picked up from arbitrary locations in the service area. This makes them a convenient mobility option for first-/last-mile mobility in urban areas.

History

Rules printed on the deck of a Bird scooter.

The sharing of scooters has been around since 2012 when Scoot Networks launched their service in San Francisco.[1] Scooter sharing has seen strong growth since 2017 with a majority of operations being concentrated in Europe.[2] As of August 2018, the biggest fleets of shared electric scooters are found in Berlin, Madrid and Paris.[3] Growth has also picked up in the US, as Revel launched the first scooter sharing service in New York City in July 2018.[4][5]

The first dockless electric kick scooter sharing services started to roll out in San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles at the end of 2017 and have subsequently expanded to more cities in the U.S., as well as Europe. Rather than seeking regulatory approval, companies have quietly deployed scooters on sidewalks independently - essentially taking the approach of acting first, asking for forgiveness later. The market has grown aggressively, with some newcomers reaching a valuation of $1 billion in less than a year of operation,[6] but causing significant disruption and backlash from local governments.

Controversy around kick scooters

In San Francisco, in response to complaints from city supervisors[7] and citizens both at public hearings[8] and in the form of widespread vandalism,[9] the city instituted a Powered Scooter Share Permit Program run by the SFMTA,[10] limiting the number of companies that could operate scooters, and the number of scooters each could operate, enforcing removal of all scooters first.[11]

Issues cited included riders blocking the sidewalk with parked scooters, and riding on the sidewalk rather than bike lanes, as well as the companies' strategy of scaling up their services in advance of regulation, rather than seeking a regulatory framework first.

I really want to send a message not only to these scooters [...] It would be very nice if the tech bros could come in and ask in a collaborative fashion for permission rather than after the fact forgiveness.

San Francisco City Supervisor Aaron Peskin, quoted in Wired[8]

Similarly, LimeBike and Bird both stopped operations in Austin at the end of April, in order to comply with new regulations passed by the city council.[12] In Santa Monica, where Bird's headquarters are located, the company settled with the city for $300,000 for violating a city ordinance against operating a rental company without a license.[13] Milwaukee has likewise banned Bird scooters and cited riders using them after they were placed in the city on the first day of Summerfest, citing Wisconsin Department of Transportation statutes regarding vehicle registration and the illegality of using them on the area's state highway and freeway systems.[14]

Safety issues

The first fatality that involved a shared electric kicked scooter occurred in Dallas, Texas in September 2018 when Jacoby Stoneking fell off a Lime rental scooter in the early morning hours while returning home from work. Stoneking died the following day at Baylor University Medical Center. It took two weeks before the Dallas County medical examiner to rule that the cause of death was blunt force injuries to his head. Stoneking was not wearing a helmet. Except for broken scooter parts, Dallas police did not find anything else at the scene of the accidents that would imply if another vehicle or person was involved and the accident is still under investigation. Lime claimed that the scooter was not defective.[15]

List of scooter-sharing system operators

Kick scooters

Motorized scooters

See also

References

  1. ""Zipcar For Scooters" Startup Scoot Networks Launches To The Public In San Francisco". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  2. "Global Scootersharing Market Report 2017 [Publication] | innoz". www.innoz.de. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  3. "Innovationslandkarte". scooter.innovationslandkarte.de. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  4. "Press Release: INVERS Helps Power New York's First Scooter Sharing Service". INVERS. 2018-07-30. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  5. "New York's first electric moped rental program is scooting riders around in style". Electrek. 2018-07-31. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  6. Zaleski, Olivia (2018-05-29). "Bird Races to Become the First Scooter Unicorn". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  7. Tang, Katy [@SupervisorTang] (2018-05-24). "At 22nd Ave & Irving. @BirdRide Great service, but also great arrogance. After everything we discussed on Mon & Tue at the Board, your riders are still leaving these in horrible places. cc: @sfpublicworks" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  8. 1 2 Marshall, Aarian (2018-04-17). "Discombobulated Cities Wrestle With an Electric Scooter Influx". Wired. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  9. Emerson, Sarah (2018-04-24). "San Francisco Is Fighting the Scooter Trend With Poop and Vandalism". Motherboard. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  10. "A New Permit and Pilot Program for San Francisco's Scooters". SFMTA. 2018-05-01. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  11. Keeling, Brock (2018-05-25). "SF orders scooters off sidewalks and streets until city selects permit holders". Curbed SF. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  12. Pritchard, Caleb (2018-04-30). "Dockless companies suspend operations after Council approves regulations". Austin Monitor. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  13. "Bird Rides, Inc. takes plea deal and will pay $300,000". Santa Monica Daily Press. 2018-02-14. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  14. Dombrowski, Diana (7 July 2018). "City of Milwaukee files lawsuit over Bird scooters". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  15. Holley, Peter (September 20, 2018). "Fatal e-scooter accident emerges just as California legalizes riding without a helmet". Washington Post.
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