Abstract
With Electric Scooters rolling into the city as part of the ‘Chicago Pilot Program’ this past summer, I had the opportunity to conduct my own research regarding the pilot program and its effects on the city of Chicago. First, I will talk in more details about The Chicago pilot program that took part in the summer between the months of June and October, as well as the data that was collected during this time. Also, I will talk about how to access an e-scooter via smartphone, the benefits of electric scooters, the benefits of E-scooters, the dangers and health risk when riding an e-scooter and lastly a counter argument to argue what the opposing side has to say.
Keywords: [ Electric energy, Electric Scooters, Transportation. Bird, Chicago.]
Electric Transportation: A Revolutionary Way to Travel
On June 15, the city of Chicago started its pilot program for electric scooters (e-scooters) as a mean of transportation for everyday commuters. The four-month program confines the scooters within a 50 square mile zone using geofencing where if the e-scooters are to go outside this zone they will stop working (Barnas, 2019). The scooters were distributed by 10 companies, each company providing 250 scooters each. Some of these scooter brands are bird, lyft, lime, jump, bolt… Users would access the e-scooters through the use of an application in a smartphone. The application would depend on the type of brand e-scooter (Barnas, 2019). Unlike Divvy Bikes; Chicago’s bike transportation system, e-scooters are dock less, and are distributed and collected by its company vendors (Barnas, 2019).
What is an E-scooter and how do you access it?
E-scooters are an electronic based motorized scooter and are very easy to use and can be accessed via smartphone. First things first, how do you ride an e-scooter? Or a better question, have you ever ridden a scooter? If no, then you had no childhood and lived under a rock. According to How to Ride Electric Scooter: A Guide for Beginners states, that if there hasn’t been any practice in using an electric scooter, it is highly recommended to practice in a safe, large space with little to no traffic or obstacles (Patrick B, web). Since e-scooters work because of an electronic based motor, they can have some torque on acceleration. Furthermore, on the handlebars you’ll find the throttle to accelerate and decelerate. E-scooters come with two brakes, one in the handlebars and the other at the base of the scooter which can be used with your foot to stop. It is highly important to know that e-scooters brakes can be quite sensitive so take precautions and practice stopping (Patrick B, web). Next comes on how to access an electric scooter. According to the website, Illinois policy, in order to access an e-scooter, riders would have to download the specific application based on the vendor of e-scooter (Joe Barnas, web). With a range of choices between e-scooter vendors, riders have an extensive choice of e-scooters to choose from.
How much Does it Cost to access an E-scooter?
Moreover, prices weren’t that different, based on what Sara Freund says in Curbed Chicago, “each operator can set its own price during the pilot program. In other large cities, companies typically charge $1 to rent a scooter and 15 cents per minute” (web). Making e-scooters a very inexpensive way to commute. With the “Chicago pilot program” for e-scooters rolling its way into Chicago this past summer, it opened many new experiences for Chicagoans and for vendors to collect the necessary data required to make any necessary changes if needed.
What is the ‘Chicago Pilot program?’
This past summer between the months of June and October, according to Joe Barnas in Illinois policy, “Chicago is the latest major city to open the door to shareable electric scooters, bringing a total of 2,500 e-scooters to city streets. The city’s pilot program for dock less e-scooters launched June 15, tallying 11,000 rides in its first weekend alone” (web). This was a fantastic start for one of the biggest cities in the country as users where very incline to use the e-scooters. It was like an early Christmas day in the summer to many Chicagoans as the woke up to hundreds of e-scooters filling the streets of Chicago and using the city as their own personal playground. Moreover, the maximum speed of each e-scooter is 15 miles per hour. Unlike Chicago’s Divvy bikes, e-scooters are not docked at fixed locations (web). This made it very easy to access e-scooters as they literally stood on every corner in the Chicago west side. Furthermore, according to Joe Barnas, “Two ‘priority areas’ are marked on the city’s far west side – areas with little to no Divvy bike access – require companies to circulate 25% of their e-scooters within them each morning” (web).
What are the Benefits of Electric scooters?
With the introduction of e-scooters in the city of Chicago, it took little to no time for news outlets to give their input on the pilot program. This also pushed for many studies to be conducted during the pilot on the impact of e-scooters. One news outlet in particular, The Chicago Tribune, asked a 50-year-old Chicagoan commuter, about his experiences with e-scooters, and he replied, “I’d rather take these than the bus — less crowds, less hassle,” (Mary Wisniewski, web). Meaning riding e-scooter eliminates the stress of packed buses, and rush hour traffic making it easier to manage commuting more comfortably. In a particular study done in a day by C. Scott Smith and Joseph P. Schwieterman called A Day in the life of Chicago’s E-scooter Pilot Program, data was collected on July 24, 2019 that “operators are generally deploying fewer e-scooters than the 250 authorized, with some deploying fewer than 100” (2). Furthermore, data was collected between the morning and the afternoon and averaged at 1486 vehicles being available on average (Smith and Schwieterman 2). Which falls below the 2500 scooter that were supposed to be deployed (Smith and Schwieterman 2). In addition, more recent data was collected on August 12, 2019 which showed that more scooters had been deployed by vendors at an average number of 1754 e-scooter, which still falls short from the 2500 scooters that are supposed to be deployed (Smith and Schwieterman 2). Moreover, from the data that was collected on July 24th between the hours of 7am and 7pm the highest peaks were in the morning between the hours of 7am-9am with 37% of trips happening at this time, and 23% of the trips happening between the hours of 5pm and 7pm (Smith and Schwieterman 3). In addition, According to the previous data by C. Scott Smith and Joseph P. Schwierterman “peaking pattern suggest that riders tend to use e-scooters near the beginning of their morning commutes and toward the end of their evening commutes-a pattern consistent with the hoped for “first mile/last mile” role of e-scooters. The higher levels during the early morning likely reflects a heightened sense of urgency that users feel going to work compared to returning from work” (3).
Bird is the word, a successful E-scooter company
One e-scooter brand in particular, according to Will Yakowicz, in Company of the Year: Bird is the Word, “the first 10 Birds descended on Santa Monica, California, September 2017” (100). Will Yakowicz also stated “As of November 2018—just 14 months after its stealth launch—Bird’s annual revenue run rate was well above $100 million, says Vander Zanden. (In June, Bird told investors its run rate was $65 million.) Bird also rose to unicorn status faster than any other startup, notching a $2 billion valuation in less than a year (100). In other words, e-scooters are a million-dollar idea. To conclude about the company’s successful launch, Bird arrived in more than 120 cities within the first 14 months. Some small cities as well as big cities out of the country like Mexico City (Will Yakowicz 101).
Health risk questions were raised regarding whether it’s safe to ride e-scooters or not?
Upon opening an e-scooter application, it is more than likely that vendors are very specific on certain guidelines upon using an e-scooter. According to two doctors, Rachel L. Choron and Joseph V. Sakran in The Integration of Electric Scooters: Useful Technology or Public Health Problem? They state, “The recommendations that e-scooter companies have put forward include wearing your own helmet while riding; being at least 18 years old; riding only on roadways, not sidewalks; not riding double; and not blocking public pathways when parking. Although the e-scooter companies have established preliminary safety precautions, these rules all too often are not followed” (555). The most important recommendation that is being disregarded is the use of protective wear such as a helmet. Such issues have been seen in cities like Baltimore, Maryland where riders have been seen riding on the sidewalks going around pedestrians which is very dangerous for both the rider and the pedestrian. (Choron and Sakran 555). In addition to riders not following proper guidelines when riding an e-scooter, Rachel L. Choron and Joseph V. Sakran state, “we have seen numerous full trauma team activations owing to e-scooter mechanisms in Baltimore. E-scooter accidents have led to an increase in traumatically injured individuals, many of whom require surgical intervention. Other cities have had similar experiences; Washington, DC, and Dallas, Texas have reported recent deaths related to e-scooters” (555).
Counter argument
On the other hand, in Electric Scooters Aren’t a Transportation Revolution Yet, with the constant growth of technology in motorized transportation, the technology in private vehicles is also growing and still dominating the roads to this day (Bliss). Furthermore, Laura Bliss does states, “all of last year’s growth were dock-less electric scooters, 85,000 of which were available to rent in about 100 U.S. cities as of December from the likes of Bird, Lime, Spin, and Skip. It really was the Year of the Scooter” (web). Laura Bliss also states the fact on how e-bikes has also grown as a mode of transportation as well indicating the demand for different modes of transportation (web). But according to Laura Bliss, “a single year’s worth of trip data doesn’t amount to a full picture of the U.S. transportation landscape” (web). Meaning that since e-scooters, one of the alternate means of transportation is still a new technology, it’s hard to compare it to decades of vehicle innovation and safety. Moreover, not to mention the fact that e-scooters will only take you so far since they only work within the geofencing technology.
Conclusion
It’s too early to tell if Electric scooters are revolutionizing transportation as a mean of commuting but it’s in plain sight that electric scooters itself are revolutionizing as a concept itself. With electric scooters already filling the streets of both major and minor cities it’s hard to ignore that facts that in over the span of two years, the market for electric scooter has grown. Therefore, as I stated, E-scooters help commuters as well as other users to traverse the city at an easy and inexpensive way. With the introduction of electric scooter in the pilot program that happened over the summer in Chicago, many speculations where left to wonder regarding the program. Such pondering led me to research about E-scooters on how to access and ride one. As well as, more detailed information regarding the ‘pilot program’ in Chicago, benefits of E-scooters, health risk, and lastly a counterargument to see what the opposite side has to say.
References
Barnas, Joe, et al. “Chicago Rolls out E-Scooter Pilot Program.” Illinois Policy, 25 June 2019, http://www.illinoispolicy.org/chicago-rolls-out-e-scooters-pilot-program/. Access Nov 24, 2019.
B, Patrick. “How to Ride Electric Scooter: A Guide for Beginners.” Scooter Sight.com,
Scooter Sight, 12 July 2018, https://www.scootersight.com/how-to-ride-electric-scooter/. Access Nov 25, 2019.
Bliss, Laura. “Electric Scooters Aren’t a Transportation Revolution Yet”
CityLab, 19 Apr. 2019, http://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/04/electricscooter- micromobility-transportation-revolution/587440/. Access Nov 24, 2019.
Choron, Rachel L., and Joseph V. Sakran. “The Integration of Electric Scooters: Useful Technology or Public Health Problem?” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 109, no. 4, Apr. 2019, pp. 555–556. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2105/AJPH.2019.304955.
Freund, Sara. “Everything You Need to Know about Electric Scooters in Chicago.” Curbed Chicago, Curbed Chicago, 4 Sept. 2019, https://chicago.curbed.com/2019/6/11/18651216/scooters-chicago-lime-bird-how-to. Access Nov. 24, 2019.
Smith, C Scott and Joseph P. Schwieterman. “A Day in the Life of Chicago’s E-scooter Pilot Program.” Chaddick Institute. DePaul University.
Yakowicz, Will. “Company of the Year: Bird Is the Word.” Inc, vol. 40, no. 8, Winter 2018/2019 2018, p. 98. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=133181911&site=eds-live. Accessed Nov 25, 2019.
Electric Transportation: A Revolutionary Way to Travel 