Downtown Scooter Program Expands Boundaries

[Ken_FSU]

Heads up that the DIA has greatly expanded the boundaries of the scooter share program, bringing the service into LaVilla, Brooklyn, and the Southbank.

Absolutely love this.

Bird and Lime appear to be the principal partners moving forward.

Haven't checked Brooklyn, but the stations and scooters are already set up on the Southbank.

Hoping this leads to even further expansion into Riverside/Five Points, San Marco, and Springfield. 

New boundaries:

[Tacachale]

Awesome news!

[jaxlongtimer]

Curious, will we now see the scooters on the bridges which have higher speed traffic than on the streets feeding them, State and Union excepted?  I would think, especially, riding one over the Fuller Warren/I-95 bridge would not be a good idea.  Miss the single off ramp on the Main Street bridge's Southbank and you are now up, again, on I-95.

[thelakelander]

Pretty cool! I believe the scooters will be allowed on the Fuller Warren Bridge shared use path as well.

[jaxlongtimer]

^ If it ever opens, LOL. 

How will scooters flow with pedestrians and bicyclists in a confined path like that?  And, how will they ride both up a steeper incline and down a steeper decline?  Regardless, I see trouble with the flow on the bridges.  Just a whole different animal than the other streets in the zone.

[jaxlongtimer]

Parisians overwhelmingly vote to ban e-scooters after 5 years of living with them.  Looks like more cities might follow or at least tighten regulations further.

PARIS — An overwhelming majority of Parisians voted to ban electric scooters from the streets of the French capital on Sunday, in a non-binding referendum that city authorities have said they would follow.

The ban won between 85.77% and 91.77% of the votes in the 20 Paris districts that published results, according to the City of Paris website on what was billed as a rare "public consultation" and prompted long queues at ballot boxes around the city.

"I preferred to vote against, because in Paris it's a mess," railway worker Ibrahim Beutchoutak, 47, told Reuters TV. "The way it's organized, the danger that it creates in Paris, the visual pollution, it's not good."

Cities worldwide are tightening regulations on e-scooters, limiting the number of operators as well as speed and where they can park.

In 2021, 24 people died in scooter-related accidents in France, including one in Paris. Last year, Paris registered 459 accidents with e-scooters and similar vehicles, including three fatal ones.

In my work, we see a lot of road accidents caused by scooters, so we really see the negative effects," general physician Audrey Cordier, 38, told Reuters after voting against the scooters.

Electric scooters accessed through smartphone apps have operated in Paris since 2018, but following complaints about their seemingly uncontrolled deployment, Paris in 2020 cut the number of operators to three.

It gave them a three-year contract, required that scooters' speed be capped at 20 km per hour and imposed designated scooter parking areas. The current contracts will run until September.

Operators had offered further regulations, including confirming that users were over 18, fixing license plates so police could identify traffic offenders and limiting each scooter to one passenger.

On Sunday, operators such as Tier and Lime sent free voucher codes to users to encourage them to vote against the ban.

Some voters said they would have rather had tighter regulations than an outright ban.

"I voted for [the scooters] because I'm against the rather binary choice we're given in this referendum. I don't want scooters to do whatever they want on pavements, but banning them is not the priority," Pierre Waeckerle, 35, said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/parisians-vote-ban-e-scooters-french-capital-rcna77849

[jaxlongtimer]

Another scooter story this week... a murder in Seattle of a driver by scooter rider he had a "confrontation" with.

Capitol Hill traffic dispute led to shooting that killed Seattle activist, police say

....The scooter rider was arrested near the shooting scene. He does not have any prior criminal convictions in King County, court records show.

Lewis was remembered as an entrepreneur and activist who was heavily involved with Africatown Community Land Trust, an organization focused on preserving the city's Black community. A graduate of Rainier Beach High School, Lewis did community outreach with Black vendors, artists, poets and singers for events in the Central District and Rainier Valley, Dunham said. Lewis also owned a cleaning business and a financial group and was involved in several community groups and activist movements, his brother said.

Shared electric scooters were first introduced in Seattle in fall 2020, and seated scooters were later added to the city's fleet. More than 1.4 million trips were taken by 260,000 riders during a pilot program between September 2020 and October 2021, with 5,000 of the colorful devices dispatched citywide, according to a 2022 Seattle Department of Transportation report.

SDOT examined police reports and found 17 collisions during that time, the majority of which occurred between scooters and vehicles. Five of those cases resulted in "serious" injuries. One was fatal.

Three companies — Bird, Line and LINK — now deploy shared scooters in the city. The scooters are allowed on roads and bike lanes and have been touted as low-carbon alternatives to cars.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/capitol-hill-traffic-dispute-led-to-shooting-that-killed-seattle-activist-police-say/

[Ken_FSU]

Another scooter story this week... a murder in Seattle of a driver by scooter rider he had a "confrontation" with.

Guess we should ban bicycles too then.

A bicyclist was shot in Denver last month after a traffic dispute:
https://www.9news.com/amp/article/news/crime/bicyclist-shot-denver-1st-emerson/73-92caf622-edfe-49d8-b22d-fc5b625cab52

And Mississippi:
https://www.wlbt.com/2022/09/06/yazoo-co-man-shot-killed-family-affair-that-got-out-hand/

And Vegas:
https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/shootings/bicycle-dispute-ends-in-shooting-after-victim-taunted-suspect-police-report-says-2715337/

And Cocoa Beach:
https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2022/10/16/cocoa-man-charged-attempted-murder-after-dispute-over-bike-parts-rockledge-police-fiske-boulevard/10518731002/

Shared electric scooters were first introduced in Seattle in fall 2020, and seated scooters were later added to the city's fleet. More than 1.4 million trips were taken by 260,000 riders during a pilot program between September 2020 and October 2021, with 5,000 of the colorful devices dispatched citywide, according to a 2022 Seattle Department of Transportation report.

SDOT examined police reports and found 17 collisions during that time, the majority of which occurred between scooters and vehicles. Five of those cases resulted in "serious" injuries. One was fatal.

30 vehicular fatalties in Seattle last year, versus 1 scooter fatality.

https://www.axios.com/local/seattle/2022/12/14/traffic-deaths-hit-25-year-high-washington

I guess we better ban cars too.

Parisians overwhelmingly vote to ban e-scooters after 5 years of living with them.  Looks like more cities might follow or at least tighten regulations further.

Data doesn't support this claim.

Projections are at around 13% annual growth through end of decade.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/electric-scooter-global-market-report-191000929.html

Paris is a very unique city in terms of density, beauty, and sensitivity to what is perceived as visual blight.

Scooters are just fine, and provide emission-free options for micro mobility that are every bit as valid and worthy as all the morons you see trucking around downtown Jacksonville in cars, parking on curbs, going the wrong way down one-way streets, etc.

One of the best things that's happened to DT Jacksonville in the last five years, and I'm personally stoked to see the boundaries continue to expand into Five Points and Springfield.

We can't cherry pick isolated anti-scooter news and ignore all the benefits.

Look at Atlanta last year, one of the most traffic congested cities in the Southeast.

1.5 million scooter rides in 2022, with 30-40% of them replacing trips that would have taken place in a car. That is making a meaningful impact on emissions, quality of life, traffic, and vibrancy.

https://nacto.org/2022/12/01/half-a-billion-rides-on-shared-bikes-and-scooters/

[Charles Hunter]

Is the Fuller Warren SUP within the geo-boundary for scooters?
If so, can they navigate the slope?
Or, should they be excluded?

[thelakelander]

Yes, I was told that the SUP is within the geo-boundary for scooters.

[jaxlongtimer]

Ken, I was just highlighting the conflicts with scooters and drivers sharing streets together.  You can draw your own conclusions as you apparently have. 

I might add that some supporters of scooters in Paris, as noted in the full article, advocated for restricting their use to those 18 and over.  I know that "kids" driving scooters "irresponsibly" in Jax has been a discussion item.  As such, maybe one day Jax decides to consider such a policy here.

Clearly, there are cities much more experienced at this point with scooters than us so I believe we can learn some lessons from them and maybe copy best practices arrived at by others.  No need for Jax to figure this out all by ourselves, especially at the cost of conflict and lives lost.

[Zac T]

I might add that some supporters of scooters in Paris, as noted in the full article, advocated for restricting their use to those 18 and over.  I know that "kids" driving scooters "irresponsibly" in Jax has been a discussion item.  As such, maybe one day Jax decides to consider such a policy here.

Both Bird and Lime, the 2 scooter companies operating in Jacksonville, require riders to be 18+. Bird verifies age before you ride. Obviously there's nothing stopping a kid from using their parents ID but it's just worth noting that those rules already exist in Jax

[jaxlongtimer]

Melbourne, Australia joins Paris in banning scooters but the controversy continues...

'End the havoc': Another major city has banned e-scooter rentals from its streets

When it comes to wheels, it's hard to deny that rented e-scooters are among the most divisive modes of transportation in the world right now.

The micromobility machines have become a common sight on major city streets around the globe in recent years, often praised for being an efficient and sustainable way for people to get around.

But their presence has also raised cries for tighter controls, thanks to an increase in accidents and complaints that they're causing chaos on sidewalks and streets.

Officials in the Australian city of Melbourne have decided to take things even further by banning electric scooter rentals altogether, citing safety concerns following hundreds of complaints and accident reports as the reason for the move.

On Tuesday, Melbourne's city council voted to end contracts with its two e-scooter operators, Lime and Neuron, giving them 30 days' notice to remove their vehicles.

"This was an opportunity to end the havoc on Melbourne's footpaths and make our city safe again," Melbourne Mayor Nicolas Reece reportedly said in a press conference on Wednesday.

"I've heard in recent days from residents, from traders, from visitors to Melbourne, literally begging us to bring the trial to an end to make our city safe again."

Melbourne began its short-lived love affair with e-scooters in 2022, when the Victoria state government kicked off a two-year trial, calling them an "accessible, environmentally friendly and cost-effective way to travel."

According to the city's "ride report", an average of 7,800 daily trips were made on micro-mobility vehicles, including 6,800 on e-scooters, in Melbourne in recent years.

Meanwhile, the trial has helped curb the city's carbon emissions by more than 400 tons in the last two and a half years, according to a government statement released earlier this month.

But the popularity of this relatively new form of transportation has also come with increased accidents and injuries.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital released a report in December 2023 that cited 256 e-scooter-related injuries – including a fatal crash – and urged the city to improve safety measures for e-scooter users. Often available for hire without a license, they can travel up to a maximum speed of 25 kilometers per hour.

Now, it appears a battle between government officials might be shaping out.

On Wednesday, Jacinta Allan, premier of Victoria, said that the state may intervene in response to the city's decision, making it clear this is one debate that won't go away any time soon.

Melbourne isn't the only major city having second thoughts about the benefits of e-scooters.

Paris, once one of the biggest e-scooter-riding cities in Europe, voted to ban rented electronic scooters in 2023.

Copenhagen banned them in 2020, then reintroduced them the following year, but with strict new rules. Barcelona has partially banned them in historic parts of the city since 2016. In London, privately owned e-scooters remain illegal for use on public roads, but public trials have been running with three operators since mid-2021.

In 2022, Rome's relationship with e-scooters faced a moment of reckoning, with city officials forced to implement new rules to lessen their impact on the public. The issue of heritage protection also came into play that year, when two Americans were fined around $800 for throwing rental scooters down the Spanish Steps, causing about $26,000 worth of damage to the fragile marble.

And this month, the dangers of mixing alcohol and e-scooters made headlines in Seoul, where K-pop megastar Suga apologized after reportedly being caught riding an electric scooter while under the influence of alcohol.

The singer, who is a member of Korean boyband BTS, said he was "heavy-hearted and sorry" in a post on online fan community platform Weverse.

"Last night, I drank while having dinner, and returned home riding an electric scooter. I easily thought it was a short distance and was unaware of the fact that you cannot ride an electric scooter when under the influence of alcohol, and therefore I violated the Road Traffic Act," the post read.

"I fell down by myself while parking the electric scooter in front of the gate of my house, and when a police nearby measured my alcohol level, I was fined and my license has been revoked," the 31-year-old singer added.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/15/travel/melbourne-electric-scooter-rental-ban-intl-hnk/index.html