If you are one of themand curmudgeonly guys who enjoyed absthe beginning of a fleet of in flames, scooters without docks on the streets of New York so far, there is bad news: scooters are coming and will be here until summer.
Wednesday, the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that Bird, lime and Veo he had all were accepted as the first participants in guinea pigs in his early electric scooter pilot. The three companies are expected to start offering walks in the Bronx by early summer 2021, and each will be supplied with 1,000 electric scooters that customers can instrument around an.
“After a competitive selection process, Bird, Lime and Veo unveil scooter models and price plans that will allow most rides for less than $ 5,” NYC DOT said in a statement. “The new bike lanes planned for the pilot area over the next two years will also increase the mobility and safety of e-scooters.”
Similar to dockless scooter and bicycle programs, dockless e-scooters allow riders to locate, unlock, and pay for their trip using a smartphone app. According to DOT, many e-scooter systems “use designated parking lots to organize vehicles, reduce sidewalk congestion and ensure a clear right of way ”.
While Bird and Lime are already nationally recognized brands with scooters access available in US cities, Chicago-based company VeoRide is a smaller operation, and offers both standing and scooter versions.
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Although tthe inaugural time schedule is expected to last only for one year, DOT will have the option to renew the participating companies licenses at the end of this period. The announcement follows a process of selecting the application for authorization of the competition application that DOT opened in October and, before that, a number of significant things. regulatory and infrastructure barriers thatscooter manufacturers had to clean before acceleration electric vehicles were legalized in the end in the budget agreement for fiscal year 2021. Until then, New York City remained a stubborn resist against the appearance electric bicycles and electronic scooters, despite a vocal contingent of supporters of micromobility who had argued that such vehicles were invaluable to certain groups, including the city’s fleet of immigrants delivery riders and anyone who misses it easily public access transportation options.
Interestingly, the pilot rules prohibit all three participating companies from using the “gig” workforce to load and reorganize scooters and also prevent them from forcing customers to accept terms of service that include mandatory arbitration or waiver provisions. collective actions.
Although the Bird, Lime and VeoRide pilot will be limited exclusively to the Bronx this summer, there are already plans in place to expand access to other unused transit deserts. and allows participating companies to increase the number of scooters in operation up to 2,000 pcs if everything goes well.