If you are one of thesee curmudgeonly types who were enjoying the absence of a fleet of flaming, dockless scooters on the streets of New York City until now, there is bad news: the scooters are coming and they will be here in the summer.
Wednesday, the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that Bird, lime and Veo had all accepted as the first guinea pig to participate in its fledgling e-scooter pilot. The three companies are expected to start up offer rides in the Bronx by early summer 2021, and each will be filled with 1,000 electric scooters for customers to work around on
“After a competitive selection process, Bird, Lime and Veo are unveiling e-scooter models and pricing plans that allow most rides for less than $ 5,” NYC DOT said in a statement. “New cycle paths planned in the pilot zone over the next two years will also improve mobility and safety of e-scooters.”
As with dockless scooters and bikeshare programs, dockless e-scooters allow riders to locate, unlock and pay for their ride using a smartphone app. According to the DOT, many e-scooter systems “use designated parking bins to organize vehicles, reduce sidewalk clutter and ensure clear right of way. “
While Bird and Lime are already nationally recognized brands with scooters access available in US cities, the Company based in Chicago VeoRide is a smaller operation, and offers both standing and seated versions of its scooters.
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Although the inaugural program is only expected to last for one year, DOT has the possibility to extend the participating companies’ licenses at the end of that term. The announcement follows a selection process for competing licensing proposals that the DOT opened in October, which will include a series of important regulatory and infrastructure hurdles thatscooter manufacturers had to clean up before throttle electric vehicles were finally legalized in the budget agreement for the fiscal year 2021. Until then, New York City was one stubborn hold out against the arrival of e-bikes and e-scooters, despite a vocal contingent of advocates of micro-mobility had that argued that such vehicles were invaluable to certain groups, including the city’s immigrant fleet delivery drivers and anyone who is not having an easy time public access throughput options.
Interestingly, the pilot’s rules prohibit all three participating companies from using “gig” labor to charge and re-equip the scooters, as well as prevent them from forcing customers to agree to the terms of service that Include binding arbitration or class action waiver requirements.
While the Bird, Lime and VeoRide pilot will be limited exclusively to the Bronx this summer, plans are already underway to expand access to other under-occupied transit deserts. and allows participating companies to increase their number of scooters in use to a maximum 2,000 each if all goes well.