Poll: Are you seeing more E-Scooters?

[MichaelB]

In the last year I’ve seen an increase in E-scooters here in urban South Florida, from less than once a week to more than 1 per day. The drivers rarely have helmets, half use sidewalks and half use bike lanes / streets. On average they go pretty fast, and they don’t seem to follow any set “rules of the road”. For example, one comes up from behind me and passes at a high speed without giving any warning, which could end badly. In my recent day trips to Miami I saw dozens, they are everywhere in that city, with no bike lanes and narrow sidewalks. So far I’ve not seen any pulled over by police.

Are others seeing this growth in E-scooters? If so, how many? Do riders use safety equipment and drive carefully? Are local communities announcing any initiatives or strategies to deal with this?

 

[braumeister]

Not many around here. Nobody ever wears safety equipment, and they frequently ride on the sidewalks. Few accidents reported in the paper though.

 

[Pointby2]

There are a group of kids on e-bikes that are "terrorizing" the neighborhood. At least that's how it's framed in our local Facebook page.

 

[sengsational]

I had to go "bacon" because in my hometown suburbs, no scooters, and my current home away from home, Philly, has quite a few, but no idea the trend. The riders don't have helmets, and I'd be reluctant to use one, based on the state of the roads and sidewalks.

 

[Gumby]

I don't think I've ever seen an e-scooter in my town. I'd bet they exist but I just haven't seen them.

 

[aja8888]

No scooters around here, only BIG TRUCKS!

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Quite a few, rarely see people riding them illegally on the sidewalks though. We have rentals here in St Pete but they are just part of the mix of bikes, eBikes, one wheels, etc that are pretty common in the downtown area and surrounding neighborhoods. I enjoy the micro transportation and bike/walk/eBike as much as I can. Never tried the scooters.

There are unsafe drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, one wheels, and I don't think any one mode has a monopoly on or even a majority of the idiots. Be polite and safely share the road/trail/sidewalk as appropriate.

ETA: I like bacon but am trying to limit saturated fat in my diet.

 

[GenXguy]

Some teen on an e-scooter passed me on a sidewalk last summer and when he was passing the person ahead of me, the guy wrecked coming back onto the sidewalk. No serious injuries. The next couple times I saw him, he was riding in the street.

 

[Walt34]

None around here now. There were a bunch of them downtown (according to the newspaper) several years ago but the project seems to have been a dismal failure. There were complaints (again, in the paper) about them being left all over the place and not returned where they were supposed to be. Since we rarely have cause to go downtown none of this affected us. I haven't seen or heard of them for several years now and that's just fine.

And I like bacon too.

 

[USGrant1962]

I'm seeing a lot fewer than a few years ago in cities I visit. It is an improvement because they were literally littering the sidewalks. As Walt said, I think the model if failing.

 

[ncbill]

Used to have a bunch around downtown but cities here added restrictions (boosting costs) & so those companies appear to have abandoned our market.

 

[Luvtoride]

There are many ebikes (not so much scooters) in our beach community here at the Jersey shore. I'm on the HOA board of our Condominium Association and we have implemented a registration process for all owners. Rather than trying to ban or restrict them (which we probably could not do) we are concerned about the safe handling of batteries and charging them in a multi-family dwelling. No pushback from residents/ owners, who all are complying with the requirements.

 

[Major Tom]

There wasn't a poll option for how I wanted to vote, which is, "Fewer than before, but still quite a lot" or words to that effect. Before the pandemic, there were lots of rental e-scooters here in the SF East Bay. TONS. They were all over the place. Then, around the time of the pandemic, most, if not all of them, disappeared. The rentals have been coming back in the last year or so, but they are not up to pre-pandemic levels, and may never be. I also see quite a few non-rental e-scooters.

If the poll was specifically about non-rental e-scooters, then I'd probably to vote something along the lines of, "Steadily increasing and reasonably popular".

 

[donheff]

Scooters and rental ebikes are all over the DC area. I have used both and like them. It's a very easy way to get around. Some 20-30 somethings are reckless and obnoxious on them, but that's life.

 

[wrigley]

When a young kid gets killed on one they'll consider "rules/laws" just like they did with golf carts.

 

[Qs Laptop]

When a young kid gets killed on one they'll consider "rules/laws" just like they did with golf carts.

--
I'm not seeing more scooters but there sure are a lot of articles about them lately.

 

[MarieIG]

I haven't noticed any e-scooters in our neighborhood.

 

[Rianne]

DH interested in an e-bike $600-$2500 cost. I would never get an e-scooter.

 

[MichaelB]

Scooters and rental ebikes are all over the DC area. I have used both and like them. It's a very easy way to get around. Some 20-30 somethings are reckless and obnoxious on them, but that's life.

Larger urban areas lend themselves to electric scooters and bikes. They have lots of traffic and congestion, a high cost of living, limited parking and high population density, especially of youngsters. Unless limited by regulation my guess is e-scooters will be around for awhile and become more popular.

 

[pacergal]

Tons of e scooters/bikes here, both kids and adults. Kids 50/50 wearing helmets, adults less so.
They ride in the street/bike lane/sidewalk--you never know.

 

[Sunset]

An e-bike is interesting to me, especially because we have only gas vehicles, so it would be a way to do quick errands easily without burning gas.

Can see not too useful for grocery shopping as can't carry a pizza or gallon of milk easily (unless use trailer and that's another issue).

Last week a fellow was driving one around, it was really tiny, looked like he was on a kids bike. He said he got it to travel from parking spot to work and it folds into his trunk.

 

[audreyh1]

Seeing plenty of e-bikes, but no e-scooters. Probably seniors find balancing challenging?

 

[Time2]

Seeing plenty of e-bikes, but no e-scooters. Probably seniors find balancing challenging?

I went with the idea that an electric bike is an e-scooter.

 

[MC Rider]

No rent via app scooters here. I don't think Lyft or Uber either.

 

[aja8888]

Friend bought eBikes for himself and wife. Wife's is a three wheeler since she is not in great physical shape. Both are pretty nice vehicles.