Thread by @shayshinecastle

Next up: E-scooters!
Staff presentation: documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/DocVie…

B-Cycle and Lime providing shared 100 e-bikes and 200 scooters, respectively
Plus 100 standard B-Cycle bikes - will be replaced with e-bikes “over the next several months”

Began on Aug. 18
One-year license to operate, with option to extend an additional 4 years

As of Sept. 14
B-Cycle
Number of trips since August 18: 48,000 (city-wide)
Average trips per bicycle per day: 7 (< 300 functional bikes currently operating)
Number of reported crashes: 0 (to police and/or staff)

Lime
Number of trips since August 18: 13,455 (limited-service area)
Average trips per e-scooter per day: 2.4
Number of reported crashes: 0

Reminder: These vendors were chosen as part of a competitive bidding process. The RFP (request for proposals) went out in March.

B-Cycle is a subsidiary of Trek bikes. Boulder Bike Share, the nonprofit who ran bike share for 10 yrs, is kind of transitioning out of existence, if I heard Dave "DK" Kemp correctly; all staff were hired by B-Cycle.

Lime is, of course, Lime. They've been doing e-scooters in lots of other cities — which of course brings us to The Complaints.

“While both systems are actively generating a substantial number of trips," staff wrote in notes to council, "the City of Boulder has received complaints regarding how dockless e- scooters are being parked by users on sidewalks and multi-use paths.”

No real info on total number of complaints, but we do know what ppl are complaining about: abandoned vehicles, clogging up sidewalks, unsafe riding behavior, etc.

Also some notes from riders who can't go west of 28th Street... council limited it to East Boulder. Unclear how that is communicated to riders, who may be surprised by that.

Based on my own experience riding in Denver, there's like a lil circle on the scooter display and it shows you when you go outside of it. Plus, the scooter stops working, which is a bit of a hint.

Per staff: “A result of implementing in a limited service area, is that some customers cannot complete their trips that traverse 28th Street, and thereby customers are leaving their scooter in undesirable locations.”

Scooter trips typically 1 mile or less
E-bikes 2-3 miles, on average
15c of each ride goes to the city

Lime has 2 hrs from the time of report to move scooters.

"What I've found thus far is they are able to respond under the 2-hr window," DK says. "They are meeting that requirement at this time."

Again per staff:
“Community members are encouraged to report issues directly to the vendor as they are required per the Shared E-scooter Licensing Program ordinance to respond and resolve issues in a timely manner."

"Vendors are required to report to the city complaints they receive as part of the evaluation component of the program on a quarterly basis, or as needed, per request from staff.”

DK, in response to Weaver q: Not having similar issues with B-Cycle bikes.

Friend: I thought we were planning to avoid late, drunken hours (most scooter crashes involved alcohol). 11 p.m. seems a little late to me?
DK: We worked with CU on that, and they were comfortable with that 11 p.m.

Friend asks for data on usage at later hours; DK promises to make it so.

I mean, I don't want to call Friend old, but thinking 11 p.m. is late.... kinda old. As someone who is Not Yet Old and sometimes hangs out with Youths, my 20-something friends don't even get to the bars until 10.

Info from DK in response to Friend q: The geofencing (limiting where they go) is not "surgical"; if we fenced off the sidewalks, you'd likely catch the adjacent bike lane, too. (Scooters not allowed on sidewalks)

Broad areas have been geofenced off: Again, anything west of 28th. And the Valmont bike park (which is east of 28th)

Friend: Why is the speed limit 15 mph?
DK: 15mph is actually pretty conservative. Any slower than that, and you take away the ability to get to your destination faster.

BUT... the first ride limits you to 8-10 mph, "to help you get more familiar with the device," DK says. "I think we've arrived right now at a pretty safe speed."

15mph is also the speed limit on multi-use paths, for example.

Friend: "2 hrs seems like a long time to have a scooter blocking the whole sidewalk. 1 hr would be better than 2; 30 min would be better than both."

Swetlik: "Is everything subject to the lowest common denominator when it comes to humans leaving things in unfortunate places? It seems so."

Swetlik: I've been seeing scooters in a whole lot of places I wouldn't expect, like neighborhoods or in front of SF homes.

Ditto. There are always a couple in my hood now. Which is nice to see!

DK: They are being used by folks all throughout the east Boulder area. That's the advantage of a dockless system... you can get to your final destination. Lime will go and bring them to their original location if they stay inactive in neighborhoods.

Swetlik: I wasn't that concerned, just wondering if this is what we expected? Or a fluke? Did this meet demand that was always there?

DK: Certainly. If you can get to where you need to be, that's the point.

There is a planned update at one-year of the pilot, so Aug. 2022, but DK says, "we'll come back whenever you like."

Wallach: We've had 13,000 trips and no accidents? That seems inconsistent with earlier data.

DK: That's a really good q. But one of the benefits of waiting on allowing e-scooters is that ppl have learned to use them.

The training mode helps, DK says, and the devices themselves have improved.

"They're more durable devices than they were when we were talking about this 2 yrs ago."

"And, frankly speaking, we've got an excellent system in Boulder of bike lanes and paths," DK says. "I don't want to jinx the program. There's a lot more to find out."

Wallach: Has the lifespan of scooters improved? (Reminder: It was an abysmal 28 days)

DK: It's now a couple years.

We've come a long way, baby. boulderbeat.news/2020/02/01/bou…

Wallach echoes Friend in calling for financial penalties on users who leave the scooters in improper places, like sidewalks.

"There's something to be said for imposing a financial consequence," Wallach says.

"We're going to try the carrot first," DK says.

DK: "We really need to intensify the education."

Joseph: I see these littered all over the sidewalks. What's the pickup process? (In industry speak, "rebalancing").

DK: Lime will routinely pick them up and take them back to initial pickup zones.

DK: One of the elements of the program that is challenging is to encourage ppl to report a scooter that has been mis-parked. That's the most efficient way to let Lime know what they need to do.

Joseph: I think, seeing all these scooters, I was one of the supporters of bringing scooters to Boulder. I don't find the sight of all these scooters "appealing. I think that is a disservice to ppl who have mobility issues."

Joseph: Is it mostly younger college students who are using these?
DK: Lime conducted a user survey, so the response rate was v low. Avg age of Lime rider is 30.
25% of riders are 34 or older.

Joseph asking my q, which I'm interviewing DK about on Thursday: How are low-income individuals taking advantage of the (required) reduced-rate use (and the ability to ride without a credit card or mobile phone)?

DK: According to geographic data, 1,600 trips have come from under-served neighborhoods that we've ID'd. We're also working with BHP and others to find out how to promote the scooters.

Friend: I'm a fan of the scooters. My qs are in the vein of how do we help them succeed, avoid accidents, clutter, etc.

"They're a great first- and last-mile option," she says. "I think we'd lose a lot of the value if we went to docks. I understand there are growing pains. I remain a fan of us doing this."

Weaver: "This is a great pilot. We're learning what we need to learn."

But also concerned about scooters on sidewalks. "I think that is the single biggest downside. The litter problem has to go away."

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