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Mayor Jenny Durkan spoke of security concerns, noting that a Washington Post report that scooter-related emergency room visits have grown in cities after scooters went to the city.
A little over a year ago, Seattle was at the helm of the nation, becoming the first major city to open its streets to shareable bicycles that did not require a docking station and could be left almost untreated. Anywhere.
A year later, Seattle opted for a similar technology that proved more popular than motorcycles. Seattle has banned scooter-free wharf-sharing businesses in the streets of the city without knowing when and if scooters could join the city's list of transportation options.
Scooter companies – technology companies that barely existed a year ago and are now worth billions of dollars – are scrambling to get in, regularly contacting municipal authorities in recent months to make themselves known and solve security problems and sidewalk.
Lime and Bird, the two largest scooter companies, say they currently operate in more than 100 cities. There are scooter parts not only in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, but also in Portland, Tacoma and Spokane.
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As the Alaskan Way viaduct falls in January and Seattle heads for several years of "maximum stress" on the downtown streets, scooter manufacturers and their boosters claim that they can offer a way to get around in a city that is efficient, environmentally friendly and respectful of the environment. .
"The closure of the January viaduct will be deeply felt by all those who travel," said Jonathan Hopkins, director of Commute Seattle, a non-profit organization that contracts with the city. "Just like walking, cycling, public transit and teleworking, scooters can be effective tools to reduce car travel, save limited road space and reduce congestion."
But the city does not have it.
Last spring, the Seattle Department of Transportation wrote to scooter rental companies stating that they were not allowed to do business here as long as the city had not put in place a permit program. This city would not have a permit program for scooters as long as it would not have set up a permit program. permanent bike sharing program.
The self-service bike program was finalized during the summer, but nothing has changed on the scooter side.
Mayor Jenny Durkan continued to ban scooter shares in the city. Stephanie Formas, a spokeswoman for Durkan, said the mayor had talked about scooters with other mayors of the country and that he wanted to study other cities before trying them here.
In particular, she mentioned security concerns, noting a report from The Washington Post that scooter-related emergency room visits have grown in cities after the arrival of scooter shares.
According to unpublished findings from the Harborview Medical Center, the number of people sharing a stationless bike was very little injured in the first year in Seattle, but e-bikes were not yet available for most of the period. 'study.
And the Seattle law currently prohibits scooters from places where bicycles can circulate – sidewalks and bike lanes.
Gabriel Scheer, Lime's director of strategic development, said the city was right to be concerned about safety, but added that cars kill about 30,000 people a year in the United States.
"Scooters, bikes, e-bikes, we should all try because we do not have many options that will continue to flow in the downtown area," said Scheer. "They will cross the traffic when the cars will not be."
Bird refused to be interviewed in the minutes, but said in a prepared statement that the company was "extremely interested" in the possibility of being able to help during the next period of maximum stress in Seattle.
The company has launched what it calls a program of ambassadors. This is to offer a free personal scooter to a "small group of people" in Seattle to "help familiarize people" with Bird.
Popularity, push back
The scooter shares work a lot like the boggy bike shares that have been in Seattle since last summer. You can find them on the street, unlock them with a smartphone app, leave them at your final destination.
They are standing (think Razor, not Vespa) with a small electric motor that runs at maximum 15 mph, although they can go faster than this descent.
During the past year, they have been deployed in dozens of cities with considerable popularity, but also through cost reduction.
Lime, which uses the scooter, the bike and the electric bike, says that scooters are by far the most popular. The company said that for every use of a standard pedal bicycle, an electric bike is used more than twice and a scooter about five times.
Scheer, of Lime, said pedal bikes "stop making sense" at the same level as Seattle charges for self-service bike companies to operate in the city ($ 50 per bike and per year) .
The company recently increased the prices of its pedal bikes from $ 1 per 30 minutes to $ 2.50. Its application to the city, filed in August, indicates that it will move to Seattle by 2019.
Sharing bikes without a station in general is proving to be a fragile economic model. Ofo, China's giant bicycle retailer, has recently pulled out of almost every US market, including Seattle. Spin has also withdrawn its bike shares from Seattle and now presents itself exclusively as a scooter business.
One of the reasons frequently cited for the popularity of scooters: it is much easier with a suit or skirt to drive a scooter standing than a bike.
Scheer said they also found, anecdotally, a large number of people who considered themselves non-cyclists and therefore did not try the bikes.
"We do not see that with scooters," said Scheer. "There is something about it that has a different appeal for people, which seems to attract more people."
"Easier than Uber"
Three people who saw me test a Lime scooter on Occidental Square (it was fast, a little more scary than expected, but very easy to understand) asked if scooters were coming to Seattle.
Andrew Evans, 28, left Nashville in February. During his previous visits, he used Lime and Bird scooters to replace the Uber rides. But he has not used the shared bike since his arrival and does not intend to do so.
"It's easier than Uber," said Evans about scooters. "More convenient than riding a bike."
But scooters have raised pirates in the cities where they operate, especially in places where companies have burst and dropped scooters in the street without permission.
Nashville, Tennessee, issued Bird with an order to stop and abstain at the beginning of the year, accusing the company of using public sidewalks without permission. The city has since passed a law allowing the return of scooters.
A similar scenario took place in San Francisco, where the city ordered scooter companies to find a solution for poorly parked scooters, and then shut them down. Since then, the city has reopened its streets to scooters, but it has not allowed Bird, Lime or Spin to return, the three companies having opened their doors without permission.
Closer to home, Portland, Spokane and Tacoma have launched pilot programs over the past two months, which include scooter sharing.
Tacoma has a mix of 250 electric bikes and scooters in its 60-day driver. Tacoma City Council member Ryan Mello said the city had not thought much about the distinction between bikes and scooters, although it was expected that scooters be more popular.
"We are very excited to try and give people a new opportunity to travel in an inexpensive way," said Mello.
Spokane has launched a two-month pilot program with 200 bikes, e-bikes and scooters.
After a little over two weeks, each pedal bike was used on average three to six times a day and each electric bike four to eight times a day, according to Lime data provided by the city.
Each scooter was fitted nine to 16 times a day.
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