A close look at scooter plans
Taking over streets, sidewalks and Snapchat stories, electric scooters have become a symbol of San Francisco in 2018. When startups began dumping scooters on the streets, it triggered outrage from residents who saw them blocking sidewalks and doorways and praise from some commuters who welcomed another way to get through the city’s clogged streets. Scooter companies’ valuations soared, as did the number of devices hauled away by city enforcers. The fight only came to a stop this month after the city demanded that companies remove scooters from the streets and apply for permits. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will grant up to five companies a permit to operate, and a dozen companies are vying for spots.
The contestants in San Francisco’s scooter race are going to creative lengths to convince the city that they’re more than a two-wheeled train wreck.
“Given how easy it is for scooters to be ... moved, I don’t know how effective it will be.” Michael Ducker, 31, of San Francisco, on proposals requiring riders to take a photo of a properly parked scooter to complete a ride
The Chronicle identified 10 intriguing aspects of the companies’ proposals and talked to a few residents to see if these features upped scooters’ street cred — or just induced vehicular dread.
Snapshots: Half of the companies (Lime, Uscooters, Ofo, Bird, Ridecell, Jump) proposed requiring riders to take a photo of a properly parked scooter to complete a ride, addressing complaints about scooters left strewn on sidewalks. Companies say this accountability will make users comply with parking etiquette.
“I don’t think that will be hard to convince people to do, since you already have to use an app to end the ride,” said Michael Ducker, 31, of San Francisco. “But, given how easy it is for scooters to be picked up and moved, I don’t know how effective it will be.”
Selfies for safety: San Francisco’s RideCell will offer scooter riders credits for more rides if they snap a selfie of themselves wearing a helmet before riding. It’s also asking them to verify, on the honor system, that they’re not riding on sidewalks.
“I think it’s more of a feel-good thing that the company is doing. People could just say yes to things they weren’t doing, or they could keep a photo of them wearing a helmet on their phone and just reuse that,” said Janet Lafleur, 54, of Mountain View.
“A better way to get scooters off the sidewalks is for the city to make it safer to ride scooters (and bikes) on the street, e.g., with protected bike lanes,” said Max Ghenis, 31, of San Francisco.
Crowdsourcing enforcement: Spin, a San Francisco scooter company, will offer a “Parking Rating Tool” in its app to rate the parking job of the previous rider. If the previous user is a bad parker, there is an option of restrictions and possible warnings.
“Well, what if someone just comes by after a scooter was appropriately parked and because they’re mad at scooters, just kicks it?” said Lafleur. “Then what?”
Phone charging: Hopr, a Miami Beach dockless bike sharing company, says that its scooter will have a port for users to charge phones and other devices.
“It would probably drive up the cost to have this extra feature,” said Lafleur. “I think the most important things scooters should be focusing on is being reliable, and not just try to differentiate themselves with little things like this.”
Clipper Card support: A critique of the first wave of scooter startups was that they required a smartphone and credit cards. San Francisco’s Skip says it is working toward being eligible for Clipper Card payments. Ford GoBikes, which operate out of stations, accept Clipper.
“It’s really convenient to have just one payment method for transit. To be able to tap into multiple vehicles seems like a really great win,” Ducker said.
Scooter parking: San Francisco’s Scoot is going against the leave-it-anywhere trend by proposing assigned parking spots, which it already uses for its moped fleet.
Ducker is skeptical: “I can never imagine being in a position to not have room to park my scooter — we don’t have enough of these things to be this concerned about parking.”
Tip your scooter: Lime, Skip and Jump say their scooters will have sensors that can tell if a scooter is in an upright position. If a scooter is tipped over, maintenance teams will be notified.
“I wonder how costly this would be; those funds could go toward better service or subsidies for low-income riders,” said Ghenis, who points out that civicminded passersby could just pick up scooters themselves.
Money where their motors are: A handful of the companies are promising payments to support infrastructure. Bird, a Santa Monica firm, will remit $1 per vehicle per day to city governments to promote more bike lanes and shared infrastructure, according to the company’s proposal. Razor, the Los Angelesarea scooter manufacturer, also plans to give a portion of revenues from every ride to local nonprofits; however, the plan hasn’t been finalized. Skip promises to invest $1 million over two years. Scoot all night: Most scooter companies say they’ll make sure all scooters are off the streets at night. If Scoot gets a permit, it says riders will be able to leave scooters in designated parking spots. The company points out that this is more environmentally friendly, since it won’t have to drive trucks around picking up scooters.
“I think there are risks of people being inebriated on scooters at night, and if we’re already worried about safety in the daylight, safety at night is so much harder,” Zucker said. “But if I work late, I need an option that has scooters available to me.” What’s the 311? San Mateo’s Lime says that it has software that can work with San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management to receive 311 complaints about its scooters. It’s using a similar system in Dallas.
“I think it would make sense . ... It makes a lot more direct response to scooter problems,” said Lafleur.