ALONG FOR THE RIDE
New e-scooter pilot program makes it easier to take a Spin in Pittsburgh
Electric scooters are popping up all over Pittsburgh as residents begin to take advantage a new escooter program.
It has been two weeks since the introduction of e-scooters to the city, and already the bright orange rides can be spotted zooming through town.
Pittsburgh received approval for the two-year program earlier this month. The scooters belong to Spin, a San Francisco-based electric bike and scooter operation company, and were made available to the public with the July 9 launch of Move PGH, a mobility initiative through the city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure.
After riding over the Roberto Clemente Bridge, first-time user Brittany Janicki, of Brooklyn, N.Y., said she is now “obsessed” with e-scooters.
“I don’t drive, so I love using this,” Ms. Janicki said. “It gets me from point A to point B super fast, and it does seem safe — the fact that it even gives you directions — and the app is super easy to use.”
Unlike mopeds, which Pittsburgh also has available via Scoobi, e-scooters are ridden standing up while offering the assistance of battery-powered-motors. More than 100
charging stations have been installed around the city for residents to locate an escooter. They can be rented from the Spin app or Transit app for a starting cost of $1 plus 39 cents per minute. Lower fares for riders who qualify are offered through Spin Access, available through the company’s website. Those without a smartphone, credit card or location services can also utilize Spin Access to ride.
As Pittsburgh introduces the new mobility option, a list of rules is outlined on Move PGH’s website to ensure safety and proper operation of the vehicles. They include:
• Users must be at least 18 years old and have a driver’s license.
•The scooters are restricted to 15 mph and cannot be taken on roads with a posted speed of25 mph or more.
• They cannot be ridden on sidewalks. They must be ridden on the street — following the flow of traffic — or in bike lanes.
• They should be parked — out of the way of pedestrians and other vehicles — at a charging station, near the end of a block, by a bike rack or in a designated parking area.
• Helmets are encouraged butnot required.
For Ms. Janicki and Ka’ai Tom — a member of the Pirates who is new to Pittsburgh this season — getting around the city was made easy by the scooters.
“You don’t have to worry about parking your car anywhere. You just pick up the scooter, catch some wind while you’re at it, and see some spots here,” said Mr. Tom, a native of the Hawaiian island of Oahu now living in the Strip District. “If you want to park somewhere, you just parkit on the side. It’s nice.”
Ben Bear, Spin’s CEO, said being part of Move PGH is in line with his company’s mission to make mobility cleaner, more equitable and more reliable.
“As a Pittsburgh native, it’s been rewarding to be able to launch our pilot and watch this project come to fruition, giving residents a suite of options, making it as easy to get around without a car as it is with a car,” Mr. Bear said in a news release.
During the first week of the pilot program, a fleet of 100 Spin scooters was made available to the public. The city’s goal is to deploy 1,000 e-scooters by Aug. 9.
“I think it definitely helps with cities where it can be very congested with parking structures, so if you don’t want to deal with any of that, I feel that riding a Spin or a scooter will be very beneficial.” Mr. Tom said. “I think it’s very convenient. You can just pick up and go wherever youwant, and these are generally all over the place.”
Since the scooter launch, the city has received complaints about them being illegally parked or simply left on sidewalks, said Molly Onufer, acity spokeswoman.
“The parking policies we’re enforcing are some of the strictest in the country, which should prevent scooters from cluttering the sidewalks,” Ms. Onufer said. “Since this is a new mobility service, we’re experiencing an adjustment period for users to ensure they’re parking them in the legally appropriate areas.”
Because Spin users are required to be signed into the app and scan the QR code on the scooter they’ll be using, Ms. Onufer said, “we have information of what user is using which scooter, and if they’re parked illegally, Spin can tell who was the last user to use that scooter. As Spin discovers incorrectly parked scooters and receives complaints via 311 or their complaint line, they will assign warnings, fine, and will even suspend or ban repeat offenders.”
Mario Crawford, of Pittsburgh, planned to ride aboard an e-scooter around the North Shore before taking it to Downtown. He called the e-scooters “awesome” and said the rides “will definitely be beneficial for everyone around the city.”
“For tourists, I just think it’s the perfect idea. It’s just perfect, ”he said.
For now, Spin’s e-scooters are the only ones authorized foruse in the city.
That is so “we have greater control and management over the shared fleet to make sure that safety and performance information is pushed out to users,” Karina Ricks, DOMI’s director, said at the July 9 launch of MovePGH.
“[The program is] designed, and PennDOT is a key partner in this, too, so that we can learn here, so that we can iterate and learn, figure out what is the best way to incorporate these devices into an urban environment, and inform state policy,” Ms. Ricks said.
Mr. Crawford hopes e-scooters become a permanent fixture in the city.
“I know for sure they’ll keep them,” he said. “Go Downtown, you’ll see everyone riding them. You’ll see them all in the streets. I just saw them yesterday. Everyone.”