Charlotte Bike / Scooter Sharing

[SgtCampsalot]

51 minutes ago, Desert Power said:

Riding them in the street against traffic seems like something that should/could be forbidden

 

32 minutes ago, kermit said:

Isnt it already?

It seems as though everything that would be forbidden by riders already is, it would only be a matter of willingness and direction to aggressively enforce. 

[ChessieCat]

4 hours ago, grodney said:

I saw another Light Rail rider with a scooter yesterday.   For whatever reason I find that hilarious. 

Anyway, I work uptown so I'm well aware of scooter-mania, but we were at Sycamore a couple Sundays ago at 4pm, and I was *stunned* by the constant turnover of scooters arriving and departing via the rail trail.

I brought a Bird scooter on the Light Rail so I could get to PNC Pavilion for a concert from UNCC station.  I looked cool riding through UNCC in front of all those Gen-Zers and zipping past the traffic jam on Pavilion Blvd  

Along the Rail Trail on Friday/Saturday nights you can see folks on their smartphones outside breweries wanting to scooter it home but there aren't enough to go around.  Some just want to take drunken joyrides. Taking Uber/Lyft home is suddenly boring to people now.  Scooter mania is here to stay.

Edited August 30, 2018 by ChessieCat

[kermit]

10 minutes ago, ChessieCat said:

 ...Scooter mania is here to stay.

For the past 4-5 weekends the number of scooters zipping past my front porch (probably almost 50 a day) has far exceeded the number of cars going past.

[Vitamin_N]

5 hours ago, grodney said:

I saw another Light Rail rider with a scooter yesterday.   For whatever reason I find that hilarious. 

I bought a small electric scooter in late 2011 to commute to uptown from Cherry. It was a great transportation option: no parking charges, quicker than walking, and less sweaty than biking. That notwithstanding, I always called it the nerdcycle because, let's face it, it was kind of a geeky thing at the time. Honest to God, I actually had one guy point and laugh at me Nelson Muntz style as I rode it uptown. Later in 2012 I got a job away from uptown so I had to start driving to work so no more scooter commuting for me. Didn't see anybody else riding a scooter until these last few months and I have to say it is hilarious to see how ubiquitous these things are now.

[nakers2]

32 minutes ago, Vitamin_N said:

I bought a small electric scooter in late 2011 to commute to uptown from Cherry. It was a great transportation option: no parking charges, quicker than walking, and less sweaty than biking. That notwithstanding, I always called it the nerdcycle because, let's face it, it was kind of a geeky thing at the time. Honest to God, I actually had one guy point and laugh at me Nelson Muntz style as I rode it uptown. Later in 2012 I got a job away from uptown so I had to start driving to work so no more scooter commuting for me. Didn't see anybody else riding a scooter until these last few months and I have to say it is hilarious to see how ubiquitous these things are now.

Not really exlclusively scooter related, but it’s funny how Americans really latch onto things that have existed for years and pretend it’s some new fad. Good example being Nutella spread, my mom being from Belgium I grew up eating the stuff on everything, kids in school used to bully me saying I was “eating poop” fast forward to today and every mom I know is like “have you heard of Nutella, apparently it’s actually kind of healthy, and tasty too” 

Back to the scooter, I had a Razor electric scooter when I was 10-11 years old. Amazing how tech has improved. Back then if you wanted to “commute” on a scooter (I say that in quotes because it would have been suicide where I lived) you needed a gas scooter. I could ride up and down the street maybe 5 times before the thing died. And then it took nearly the rest of the day to recharge. Much like bikes to most Americans, it was a toy, meant for fun. Not commuting. These scooters and bikes are like the green eggs and ham of transportation. Just try them Sam I Am. 

[dylansukkert]

So it appears someone left their Lime Scooter unlocked outside of my apartment building. I have seen a few people take it for a joy ride and it has probably been at least 2 hours of running. I assume this user just keeps getting charged?! Poor guy haha 

[deleted]

https://slate.com/business/2018/09/after-losing-to-uber-cities-are-squeezing-scooters-and-bike-shares.html

EXCELLENT article.

[kermit]

From the article linked above:

Quote

There’s also the China parallel, which offers evidence for the success of a messy rollout. Dockless bike-share companies Ofo and Mobike flooded Chinese cities with tens of thousands of bicycles, inventing a new transportation mode overnight. This helped bump the share of miles traveled in Chinese cities by bicycle from 5.5 percent to 11.6 percent. In Shenzhen, private car travel fell by 10 percent.

And then from a Vox piece about scooters published today: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/9/10/17631318/electric-scooters-bird-city-regulations-sustainability

Quote

Vox’s Umair Irfan suggested optimistically that “perhaps one of the greatest benefits of scooters will be that they will force a larger discussion of whom or what we prioritize when we design cities.”

If that comes to pass, then the scooter revolution will undoubtedly be change for the better. The tragic reality, however, is that so far neither the revolution nor the larger discussion has happened. Cities have instead tended to take auto-centric urban design for granted and simply debated how scooters might best fit into that.

That’s a huge mistake. Cars (and before them, railroads) transformed the world, in part because they’re inherently useful but largely because we decided to build infrastructure that allows them to be useful rather than decreeing that they should be banned because they were a nuisance to the existing users of the old infrastructure.

How many years have we been talking about a handful of half-measure bike trails? The city needs to get off its ass now and focus on scootbikeability.

[pathb]

Anyone catch Mayor Lyles on Charlotte Talks this AM announcing that the pilot program for bikes/scooters is being terminated early?  

http://www.wfae.org/post/charlotte-talks-mike-mayor-and-fire-chief-talk-hurricane-florence

towards the end of the recording

[kermit]

^ and what will happen? Did she say?

I will say the absence of scooters today has messed up my day significantly, driving instead.

[EllAyyDub]

I just listened.  They took them off the streets for storm safety, but also ended the program early since "they had already collected enough data".  Determining next steps now.  A small tax going to improving the pedestrian experience was discussed.  Lyles seemed very pro scooter/bike/mobility so that is encouraging, but disappointing they have to be off the streets in the interim.

[Matthew.Brendan]

No more scooters????? Whhhhhaaaaatttttt. They are clearly a resounding success. I swear Charlotte

[kermit]

7 minutes ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

No more scooters????? Whhhhhaaaaatttttt. They are clearly a resounding success. I swear Charlotte

I didn't listen to the mayor but the scooters were removed today due to the storm. It was implied that they will be back as soon as it passes.

[CTiger]

The bikes are mostly gone/inoperable as well.  There were three spin bikes outside of my apartment this morning which I was going to take to work but they all had a "This bike needs repairs" message when I tried to unlock them.   I presume they will be picked up and taken off the streets by Spin at some point today.   

Walking to work was fun  

[lit]

The email we received from BIRD asked us to keep the Birds all safe until Sunday, but I’m wondering if it’ll get pushed back another day or two since the storm is taking its sweet ass time getting here. 

[dubone]

I am very much both for a small tax, but also for a bond to go for catching up on bike infrastructure.  Clearly there is a generational shift and if people are on electric scooters, assuming the charging system isn't just a van following behind everyone riding could be a dramatic help for non-auto mobility. 

 

Any tax on the scooters themselves will not be enough to build out enough protected bike infrastructure.     There does need to be some sort of way to get people to learn how to use them safely.  They are fun, but riders are quite reckless on the whole so a balance needs to be struck somehow or there will be blowback. 

[DMann]

Ticket them for breaking the laws.

 

[SgtCampsalot]

1 hour ago, DMann said:

Ticket them for breaking the laws.

 

Honestly not all of the laws make sense for electric scooters. You can't always be on the sidewalk or the street; oftentimes the safety of either the rider or the driver depend on the scooter changing locations. Then other times going against a one-way street is a negligible act. The laws need to change to accommodate this new mode... or should I say: accommode-ate

[ChessieCat]

Durham believes that scooters should be classified as mopeds under NC law and therefore has not allowed scooter or bike sharing while CLT and Raleigh have.  But changing state law?  WOW 

"City code prohibits bikes (and vehicles) on sidewalks, and the council hasn't expressed a desire to treat zippy fifteen-mile-per-hour scooters differently...City officials have asked the DMV and the state Attorney General's Office for guidance, but ultimately they think a change in state law is needed to define this new technology.  'That's the challenge we're having,' Baker says. 'This is a case where the technology is out in front of the legislation.'"

https://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/nc-laws-says-bird-scooters-are-mopeds-that-could-present-a-problem-in-durham/Content?oid=18087137

Thanks Captain Obvious!!!

Edited September 19, 2018 by ChessieCat

[tozmervo]

FWIW, both Bird and Lime are back on the streets in force. 

[nicholas]

16 minutes ago, ChessieCat said:

Durham believes that scooters should be classified as mopeds under NC law and therefore has not allowed scooter or bike sharing while CLT and Raleigh have.  But changing state law?  WOW 

"City code prohibits bikes (and vehicles) on sidewalks, and the council hasn't expressed a desire to treat zippy fifteen-mile-per-hour scooters differently...City officials have asked the DMV and the state Attorney General's Office for guidance, but ultimately they think a change in state law is needed to define this new technology.  'That's the challenge we're having,' Baker says. 'This is a case where the technology is out in front of the legislation.'"

https://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/nc-laws-says-bird-scooters-are-mopeds-that-could-present-a-problem-in-durham/Content?oid=18087137

Thanks Captain Obvious!!!

Not sure I understand the logic behind this?  I personally see no issues with scooters on sidewalks, and getting the GA to change the statewide rules is going to be much more difficult and time consuming than just changing your city's code.

[sakami]

Coming back to town today I got routed down Graham St to 24th. I couldn’t catch a picture but there must have been 15 Lime bikes on the ground just off of 24th. Any theories on why? I can’t imagine the company uses this lot as storage...

[Trickbot]

There are multiple Bird scooters around campus here at UNCC now. I guess they brought them from uptown on the light rail? But they have even less regard for pedestrians than the bikers and skateboarders, so if u need one please come take it from UC to wherever you want it to be that's not here.

[Bikeguy]

From Steve Goodridge, Board Member - Bike/Walk NC...  

"Some electric scooter operators report feeling unsafe or unwelcome on certain roadways, electing to use sidewalks instead. Many bicyclists empathize. From a public policy perspective, however, we posit that if interactions between lower-speed and higher-speed traffic on an ordinary road are deemed unreasonably unsafe, unpleasant, or inconvenient, the prudent remedy is to change the roadway environment in ways that reduce conflicts and/or speeds, and not to push users of lower-speed vehicles onto the sidewalks."

 

https://www.bikewalknc.org/2018/09/rules-of-the-road-for-electric-scooters/

[TheOneRJ]

10 hours ago, Trickbot said:

There are multiple Bird scooters around campus here at UNCC now. I guess they brought them from uptown on the light rail? But they have even less regard for pedestrians than the bikers and skateboarders, so if u need one please come take it from UC to wherever you want it to be that's not here.

Living in University City, it’s annoying how few bikes and scooters there are in this area. I’ve never seen more than 2 Spin or Lime bikes here