Images courtesy of Lime
E-scooters could be the
next form of campus
transportation
Cities and colleges around the
country are adopting electric
scooters as a new form of public
transportation, and New York is
setting itself up to join them.
New York Governor Andrew
Cuomo proposed legislation earlier this year
that would allow individual towns and cities
to decide whether or not to legalize e-scooters
and e-bikes for use on their streets. The New
York City Council quickly accepted this call to
action and introduced several bills of its own
aimed at legalizing the vehicles.
The City Council’s bills would remove
restrictions against e-scooter and e-bike
use, create a program to help people with
electric throttle bikes to convert them into
pedal-assist bikes, and create a pilot scootershare
program. While the bills have quickly
become part of the larger conversation of
revolutionizing the way New Yorkers travel
in the overly congested city, there are also
major concerns about safety to consider.
College campuses have become a popular
testing ground to observe the pros and cons
of e-scooter programs. Companies such as
Lime and Bird have partnered with many
universities to off er their product on campus:
a scooter-sharing app that allows students
to rent out the vehicles to travel around
campus, similar to New York’s Citi-Bike
program. According to a recent report from
the Chronicle of Higher Education, however,
the pilot programs have received mixed
reviews.
At New Mexico State University, thanks in
part to the eff orts of the student government,
scooters made by the company Spin have
become so popular on campus that it is rare
to fi nd one that is fully charged, one student
told the Chronicle. Since each scooter ride
only costs a few dollars, the program could
even be saving students money that they
would have spent on a campus parking
pass.
At Michigan State University, on the
other hand, the school has struggled
with regulating the devices. Without clear
restrictions as to where the scooters should
be returned, University police began fi nding
them in dangerous places that obstructed
traffi c and wound up impounding 100
scooters in the fall of 2018. The University of
Texas at Austin impounded 600 scooters in
one month and began issuing hefty fi nes to
students for misusing them.
Moreover, at Arizona State University, the
school impounded nearly 900 scooters and
Lime eventually pulled its scooters from the
city of Tempe.
Still, college administrators believe there
is potential for e-scooters to do a lot of good
on their campuses. As one offi cial from Texas
told the Chronicle, the machines are very
easy to use with little to no practice and
they can reduce the number of vehicles on
campus. But concerns over safety are ever
looming.
In a January report from the Journal of the
American Medical Association, there were
249 emergency room cases involving injuries
from electric scooters. With only 4.4 percent
of injured riders found to be wearing a helmet
and 40 percent of incidents involving head
injuries, the report suggests that many riders
are not adhering to the regulations put forth
by their cities, schools or scooter companies.
As New York prepares to bring e-scooters
to the most populous city in the nation, and
possibly its college campuses, enforcing
strict safety measures will have to be its top
priority.
By Ryan Kelley
QNS.COM
36 SPRING 2019
/QNS.COM