[ad_1]
Pedestrians, stay on your guard. Residents of downtown and downtown Omaha could start renting electric scooters as early as next week.
The city council will vote Tuesday on a pilot program providing for the installation of 1,500 rented scooters on a smartphone in Omaha until November.
The two manufacturers of scooters selected for the pilot program, Lime and Spin, say they are ready to deploy the devices connected to the GPS on Wednesday.
"The interest is obviously huge," said Nico Probst, a Lime representative who works for the city. "We are excited about Omaha."
The goal of no-dock scooters, beyond a new twist on a classic drive, is environmental, said Probst. A third of Lime runners would have driven a car to their destination, if not for scooters.
Sign up for Building Omaha newsletter
Get the latest developments, job offers and news from the retail business right in your inbox every Monday morning.
Other cities where scooters are deployed include Austin, Texas; Portland, Oregon; San Diego; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and in Kansas City, Missouri.
The six-month Omaha trial is expected to get council approval Tuesday, based on interviews with board members, despite some reservations as to how scooters would be parked and exploited.
Board members Aimee Melton, Pete Festersen, Rich Pahls, Brinker Harding and Chris Jerram said it was the right approach to use a pilot program to sharpen a new transportation option.
Several members, including Jerram, who represents south-central Omaha, said they would closely monitor the scooter program to assess its impact on non-drivers.
Scooters would be rented for one-way trips timed. They would be left where they went. This has caused problems in some cities, said Jerram.
Scooters are sometimes left in the streets, in car parks and near corporate entrances, and may trip people up or block access for disabled customers to sidewalks, he said.
Company representatives said they wanted to avoid these problems in Omaha by informing tenants about parking.
Business smartphone applications teach new passengers how to drive and where to leave scooters.
The Lime app, for example, asks cyclists to take a picture of where they parked the scooter so that others can evaluate their parking work.
Customers could rent scooters on apps for $ 2 to $ 3 for a 10-minute getaway.
Harding, who represents West Omaha, said he appreciated the willingness of scooter companies to work with the city.
According to the law in force, companies could have come forward and start renting scooters.
Instead, they worked with Public Works and the Planning and Law Departments on a legal framework for the use of scooters.
Negotiated restrictions: Scooters must be driven on roads – no sidewalks – and only in streets where speed is limited to 35 mph or less.
They could only be boarded between 5 pm and 10:30 pm and would be "protected" by crossing the Bob Kerrey pedestrian bridge and other restricted areas.
Geofencing is a sophisticated term for using GPS mapping to limit the movement of scooters, which allows them to be disabled in certain areas.
Helmets would not be necessary, although they are recommended. Studies have shown that the risk of injury from driving a scooter up to 15 mph is real and may include head injuries.
The two companies agreed to pay US $ 5,000 license and 11 cents each way to Park Omaha, which would oversee the pilot program. The funds would cover the administrative costs of the city.
The city expects the number of passengers in downtown Omaha to be the highest, from the Capitol area to the old market and in neighborhoods like Benson, Dundee and Blackstone.
The University of Nebraska at Omaha also expects students to drive scooters from its Pacific Street campus to the main Dodge Street campus, officials said.
The company's employees picked up the scooters every night and loaded them. Crews would then redistribute them for the next day based on anticipated demand.
[ad_2]
Source link