Yes, I can see the argument, and would entertain a prohibition on greenways.
I have seen high powered E-bikes tearing up the greenways and find them to be very obnoxious, but I have also seen low power E-bikes on the greenway before and found them to be not disruptive at all. 250 watts and 15mph is no more powerful and no faster than the average person can go while pedaling, although the requirement to be pedaling might keep the crowds away somewhat.
If it’s difficult to enforce a distinction between high-powered and low-powered, then sure - just keep 'em off.
Bird dictates “nests” where chargers are required to release them in the morning between 4a-7a. There is very little influence on where these nests are, currently. As I understand it, part of the proposal by Bird, and probably requirement by the city would be to create an additional Bird position (FTE) that is responsible for the placement of the scooters and the ability to manipulate the nest locations. Any rider, charger or mechanic has the ability to make recommendations via the “help” section of the app though the impact that has is limited if effective at all. I have been able to successfully have some nests removed but others I’ve made suggestions for have not been changed.
I’m a runner and I would fight to allow it. Birds aren’t safe on all streets, just like bikes aren’t. They’re low powered enough to be safe. I’ve had bikes fly by me at much faster speeds.
I would hope some compromise would be possible on the greenway. that is by far our most robust and largest separated biking facility, and could be the key to city-wide alternate transport.
geofencing is possible, so the regulations can require the scooters to be aware of when they’re on a greenway and restrict their top speed to 12mph, the speed limit for bikes on the greenway.
@OakCityDylan Maybe you know this. I see some folks riding a scooter with one or two scooters mounted also. Are these chargers or what’s up with this?
They are also doing this on the sidewalk which makes them a “wider” obstacle. If they are chargers, seems like the hustle to get birds is also incentivizing bad behavior.
Bird chargers are like Uber drivers but without passenger ratings. There are some good and some bad. I can tell you it’s unlikely the person you saw is one of the 140 chargers in my FB group as we are all very much interested in keeping the game in town and trying to keep Bird’s image positive. With that, the hustle to get Birds to charge definitely can foster poor decisions and bad behavior.
I’ve also witnessed general riders stashing Birds for their friends so it’s possible that’s what you saw.
Was out of the country for 2 weeks, wanted to go to dinner downtown with wife. Tried walking to Fayetteville st from Dawson. So many g-damn scooters is was crazy, some guy coming down sidewalk with a scooter had a another scooter crossed on it yelling for us to get out of the way. decided to just leave. Seems like there is at least 500 of these things. One was actually on the ground blocking the entrance to the food court with people stepping over itronix get in and out. Another girl was riding it one handed while texting (stupid or talented) Should have took a video.
On the way out noticed some religious group of some sort loitering on both sides of Wilmington along with trash on the sidewalks and streets.
Proposed rules for scooter permitting in Raleigh going before city council on Tuesday. BPAC meeting is Monday, at both meetings public has a chance to weigh in. What’s your thoughts on the proposed rules?
Seems reasonable. Especially since I doubt the City of Raleigh has the funds to enforce it strictly and when the newness goes away and people have something else to complain about.
I’m not seeing anything in there about no riding on the sidewalk. Only about not parking them on small sidewalks. Which, of course, begs the question — where should they be parked?
The big no-shows in the proposed rules from my point of view is the lack of prohibition against riding them on the sidewalk and nothing about it being mandatory to wear a helmet. Those are both good things — either one would kill the scooters.
These scooters are not just good on their own, but they’re revealing Raleigh’s antiquated street system and lack of adequate pedestrian walkways (and a lack of parking — a lot of people don’t like visiting Raleigh because of the parking) like never before. For making those facts unavoidable alone they have been a great addition.
I strongly think that we can debate the sidewalk rules all day but it will not change user behavior at all. Perhaps city staff is on to something with regulating where scooters can and cannot be parked. Chargers should be advocates for proper parking once those rules are in place and the city could continue to ramp up their bike lanes and bike corrals in order to encourage parking/using scooters on the street.
If a scooter ride starts and ends entirely on the street then that might encourage better behavior. I think we should all get used to it that there will always be “that guy” that rides on the sidewalk so curbing it over time should be the goal. FIxing it overnight is unrealistic, imo.
I see the problem with driving scooters on the sidewalks as a speed problem. If everything moving in the Pedestian zone was going no faster than 5mph, it wouldn’t be a problem. Bikes, skateboards, skates, scooters, whatever, going 15mph on crowded sidewalks just is not safe. The scooters are the worst because the are nearly silent and people swerve back and forth like they are in a skate park.
I am glad that the city guidelines indicate that every scooter and app must say “no riding on sidewalks” but the Bird scooters already say it where people stand on the scooter, in size 8 font.
Yes, we need more and better bike lines and we should use these scooter fees as a way to build more. Yes, we need more bike / scooter parking and we should use these fees as a way to build more.
We should not wait until those things happen before we make it clear that vehicles should not be driven on sidewalks. Maybe we need to paint that on downtown sidewalk corners to make it clear.
I think if we can’t get the scooters off the sidewalks, they will not survive in Raleigh city center, and that would be a shame.
Expecting people to risk their safety riding scooters on busy city streets that don’t have bike lanes because some cranky people on the sidewalk don’t like it is unrealistic.
I’m disappointed Raleigh has apparently not done anything to try to accommodate this obviously popular option.
Other cities are quickly setting up parking areas, marking trial lanes and testing out signage. Meanwhile we’ve come up with a very long list of places on our lawn we’d like scooters to stay off of.
