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Image Source: Ashley Whittaker
It’s 2024. You no longer need to fly down the highway to a hideaway to get your boots scootin’. Cities all over the world have electric scooters scattered about for you to rent by the minute to get exactly where you want to go, just faster.
The scooter renting trend in the United States first took off in late 2017 when Bird scooters were introduced in Santa Monica, California. Since then, rentable electric scooters have been introduced in cities nationwide, and even banned in a few. And because of the polarizing reputation scooters have created for themselves, people are sharpening their pitchforks to chase this new form of transport out of town. And while it isn’t smart to go against an angry mob just to defend a scooter, here I stand.
Image Source: Johnny Crosskey
First off, scooters are an accessible green alternative to most other modes of transportation. They emit zero emissions, are easy to use, and are cost-effective.
End of argument.
For the price of a cup of coffee, you can ride across town without worrying about parking, gas prices, or looking cool. And let’s not forget the fun factor – the reason that scooters have become so popular isn’t solely because people rely on them for travel. A lot of people choose to ride them for fun. This perk also technically con- tributes to the first and biggest problem with scooters – the user.
Yeah. I’m talking about you. Hopefully not, but it’s possible. Getting drunk and crashing scooters, throwing scooters in lakes, and stealing them. Several news stories and statistics about scooters have painted a negative picture of their impacts on communities and the environment. But like Eminem at the end of 8-Mile, I am going to get a few of those out of the way right now so that they can’t be used against me later.
“AFD hopes to remove hundreds of scooters, e-bikes from lake”. Certainly one of the weirder problems nobody could have seen coming is people throwing e-scooters and e-bikes into lakes, oceans, and rivers. Why? Who knows. How to stop it? Uhh, who knows? While it is a bad problem that is terrible for the environment, it should be more of a reflection of the people throwing them into bodies of water than of scooters themselves.
The Journal of the American College of Surgeons published a study that found that in 2020, there were more scooter-related hospitalizations than bike-related hospitalizations. During the study period (2016 to 2020), they also found that the annual costs for bicycle and scooter-related hospitalizations increased from $6.6 million to $35.5 million. Both are undoubtedly negative results directly caused by the scooter boom. But with so many new scooter riders introduced in such a short time, the rise in crashes is likely a spike that will fall as more safety rules and regulations are placed and people become more familiar with scooter riding.
One of the biggest complaints about scooters is that they are always abandoned on sidewalks all over the city, turning side- walks into dangerous obstacle courses and eyesores. This was a huge problem when scooters were first introduced. But with the knowledge we have gained from the cities that were early adopters of scooters, we know now that this problem can be addressed through cooperation between the scooter companies and the city. By implementing designated parking zones and programming the scooters to prevent rides from ending anywhere outside of those designated zones.
The designated parking zones influence users to return the scooters to the correct place in two ways. Firstly, by not returning the scooter to the parking zone, the user will continue to be charged for renting the scooter until it is returned or the battery dies. Cities like Tampa have also made it so riders who ditch a scooter can be fined an additional $5 through the scooter rental app. And for the good Samaritans, there is a reward for returning another person’s ditched scooter ranging from 50 cents to $2.50 in account credit. Additionally, the city has developed a website where residents can suggest areas for scooter companies to develop docking stations. This should provide enough of an incentive to keep the sidewalks clean, but it is possible that fines and rewards could be increased in the future, if it becomes necessary. “Generally, when there’s a fine associated with an improper action, it does, unfortunately, yield better results,” said Tampa Mobility Director Vik Bhide in a press conference about the new policy.
Image Source: AdobeStock
Scooters are often praised for being eco-friendly, including in this article. While the scooters themselves don’t emit any emissions, the scooter manufacturing process and nightly pickups to recharge and repair scooters contribute to the problem of greenhouse gas emissions.
These are both processes that can be improved upon in the future, but according to a 2019 study on the environmental impacts of shared electric scooters, scooters already help to lower greenhouse gas emissions when comparing a scooter’s total volume of emissions (including manufacturing and nightly pickups) per passenger mile to that of the transportation type that the scooter replaced.
The study found that of the people who took a scooter ride, 49 percent would have walked or biked if there weren’t scooters, 34 percent would have taken a car, 11 percent would have taken the bus, and 7 percent wouldn’t have taken the trip. Using this information, the researchers calculated the “Benchmark Displacement” of the CO2 emitted from scooter trips after accounting for the CO2 emissions of the trip they replaced. With the Benchmark Displacement value, researchers concluded that “dockless e-scooters consistently result in higher life cycle global warming impacts relative to the use of a bus with high ridership, an electric bicycle, or a bicycle per passenger-mile traveled. However, choosing an e-scooter over driving a personal automobile with a fuel efficiency of 26 miles per gallon results in a near-universal decrease in global warming impacts.”
Scooters aren’t here to replace legs, bikes, or buses. They are here to replace the need to use cars to get everywhere. While high-use buses, bikes, and legs are still more environmentally friendly, that doesn’t negate the fact that scooters effectively reduce emissions when used to replace extra car trips.
As NYC Mayor Eric Adams said in an announcement from March of 2023, “E-bikes and e-scooters are here. You might as well get used to them. They are now part of our movement, now we must make sure that they are incorporated in our everyday lives in a safe and efficient manner.” With the proper measures in place, cities can address the problems that come with this new way of getting around to minimize the drawbacks and maximize the benefits. My final message goes out to the people throwing scooters in bodies of water.
Stop it.
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