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In the early hours of April 26, the streets of Portland, Oregon, suddenly covered with scooters, making it official: the scooter season is back. The previous summer, the electric rides were besieged streets and sidewalks in Portland and other test cities, but they disappeared at the end of the pilot sharing programs. But now, a handful of metropolitan areas such as Portland, Seattle and Knoxville, Tennessee, are seeing their numbers back, as other cities introduce them for the first time – despite numerous complaints about the booming industry .
The initial launches were marked by growing pains – in addition to irresponsible runners and scooters crawling on sidewalks and streets, injuries quickly accumulated. A recent study found that scooter-related injuries in the Dallas area have generated hospitalization costs of $ 1.4 million since the introduction of scooters in the past year. Scooter deaths have occurred in several cities. Each new market is challenging, but as the scooter season returns across the country, how will it be different?
According to Andrew Benton, Load Manager, an electronic scooter refueling company, the focus is on infrastructure – at least that should be the case if scooter companies want to see their business flourish. Charge creates docking / charging stations for electric scooters and electric bikes and works with cities and property managers to install them; Benton describes the service as an agnostic complement to the rides. "What I consider the future of a smart city is that we need an infrastructure to support micro-mobility," he said. . "So we are building this global network to support the ambitions of micro-mobility." Local governments, says Benton, need to find better ways to integrate electronic scooters, but they must do so without compromising the integrity of their cities. . Benton points out that the early days of the electronic scooters were totally focused on volume; Entrepreneurs have to prove the value of the market to users and investors, which requires a high number of trips – and not necessarily a demonstration of the real benefit of the product for a given community. "In the process of trying to grow so fast, all the equity, all the money, has been used for growth," says Benton. "I think the vast majority of cities have not figured it out yet, because the infrastructure is not there."
Dylan Rivera, Information Officer at the Portland Bureau of Transportation, says Portland's scooter strategy is another city to follow. He is impressed by the first results of Portland's 120-day pilot program for 2018 and is optimistic about how the city's system will continue to develop as he embarks on his second pilot project, which will last a year. This optimism stems in large part from the lessons learned from Portland's test. "We asked companies to provide data at a level that no other city in the country needed, which allowed us to provide a report explaining how scooters were used year-round. last to a level that no other city, perhaps in the world, has done, "says Rivera. This report revealed that most Portlandians viewed scooters as an alternative to driving and carpooling; Last summer, there were more than 700,000 e-scooter rides on the streets of Portland. "All other cities engage blindly with these companies and react after the fact to create rules, expel them or adopt a reactive attitude towards the entire sector," says Rivera. Instead of fighting scooters or simply allowing them to run in the wild, Portland hopes to create a more sustainable system that will work for everyone. In Portland, electronic scooter companies such as Bird, Lime and Skip are required to make their vehicles accessible to non-English speakers, low-income customers and people with disabilities. In short, Portland is trying to force scooter brands to become more inclusive.
For their part, scooter companies make changes to the devices themselves. For example, a Lime representative stated that his new scooter, the most durable Lime-S Generation 3, had larger wheels, better suspension, improved braking and longer battery life (the scooter should be able to travel 30 km). "The color display screen features state-of-the-art technology that will also help Lime better communicate safe driving tips and the right parking rules," says Lime's representative. Bird also offers a new scooter, the Bird One, with longer battery life and sells it directly to consumers. The Bird One will replace the Bird Zero this summer, as the company gradually phased out its original features.
Scooter companies are also updating their business strategies. Benton thinks that companies using guerrilla tactics to cover the streets with scooters were hoping that the best of users would not last forever. They will have to find ways to make their fleets more efficient, more reliable and better maintained, because that is how they will achieve profitability. This does not mean that scooter companies will not fill the road with scooters, regardless of the rules. But challenging the city's regulations is not a viable long-term solution. According to Benton, this season of scooters, it is the startups who will stay on site who will tackle these larger problems, as opposed to driving figures. "As some companies collapse, other companies will grow stronger, better understand the processes and continue to reduce friction," he said.
In April, Austin-based design firm Argodesign created a "provocation" for a new type of scooter business that would deal exactly with this type of friction. The concept, called Step, imagines scooters that fold vertically and attach to the poles, which facilitates the decluttering of sidewalks. The proposal also calls for the deployment of a public API allowing everyone to see and report dangerous incidents. Although Step is not a real product, Reid Evans, director of Argodesign brand strategy, said the company was ready and willing to work with any scooter company interested in his ideas. (There have not yet been any takers, but here's what he hopes for.) According to Evans, the most significant changes in the marketplace are branding and philosophy. "I think what they recognized, it's a mismatch between what the product was supposed to do and who actually drove it, and what they did with it," he says.
Scooters were supposed to be a last mile solution to alleviate traffic congestion and help people making long trips to come and go between bus stops or parking lots. However, this is not exactly the most popular user. "I think what they understand is that college kids make jokes about these kids, or the kids who play with them," says Evans. This has created a bad reputation for electronic scooters, which Evans says is actually an extremely useful resource. "Identity plays a big role in this. If you arrive at a work meeting and take a scooter, you emit a very different tone than if you got out of a black car. A scooter makes a very poignant statement about who you are, "he says. Scooter companies will likely use an older consumer to be taken seriously by the people who need it most, and most importantly, by local governments.
In Portland, companies that want to use more devices on the road must follow the rules the city has imposed on them. They will then have access to larger fleets. "We try to speak their language and say, we're going to let you double your market share here in Portland if you're able to show us innovations. which reduces driving on the sidewalk, [or that] makes you technically accessible to people who do not speak good English, to people who are not banked or to people who live in an area of the city focused on the automobile. "
Scooters can not be reserved for young city-dwellers, they must be for everyone. "Businesses need to show city officials and communities, the general public, that they can be good actors, that they can be trusted," says Rivera. "And that they are interested in providing honest service to the people who need it and that it's not just a passing fad, but that it can actually be a useful part of everyday life in urban areas. " Portland asks city scooter companies with data they would not normally share, but the city says it will only take relevant information and keep the secret. Providing proprietary information is unusual for startups, but in this case, it's the only way to develop them. Rivera mentions that Los Angeles has been proactive in asking companies to also provide data. L.A. wishes to use this information to essentially "update" the city; this could help to decide where to install the docking stations or what software to build. (It should be mentioned that the Electronic Frontier Foundation warns that this goes too far and is detrimental to the privacy of consumers.)
According to Rivera, the city and scooter companies will continue to educate the public on scooter rules, and Portland will also enforce tougher enforcement. This means that people who drive on the sidewalks, who give up scooters incorrectly or who engage in any other illegal scooter activity will be mentioned. Undercover agents will wait for unsuspected tickets as riders, and this information will also be forwarded to scooter companies, who may choose to suspend or ban users. He also said that geo-fence will be used in the future to keep scooters out of the parks.
The brand of scooters that tries to create respectful ritual behaviors will eventually win over local governments, as well as consumers who do not want to be associated with the cliches of scooter mates, says Evans. "If an alternative is not only safer, but seems more sophisticated and connected to your community, you prefer to be that person," he says. "And I think that's where the sense of identity is really important: what does it mean to be associated with that brand?" In summary, the scooter season is more important than last year's, but there is reason to believe that this growth will occur alongside a philosophical change. "I think we really need technological leadership to demonstrate a clear commitment to its ultimate goal," says Evans. "And it's really offering the last mile to everyone, not just to 18, no?"
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