I agree. Just in the past week, Ofo pulled out of Charlotte. Maybe there was too much competition, though, since there are at least 3 other bikeshare companies in the city.
So far, about 85% of the Bird riders I’ve seen in the Warehouse District are riding on the sidewalks. And at pretty high speeds in many cases.
I have nothing against new modes of transportation, in fact I like the variety of options. It’s people using them irresponsibly that cause problems. I personally prefer human powered options, but less cars = better.
Does anyone know if Bird has a way or reporting bad parking? I think Lime has a way to report inappropriately parked bikes.
Let’s hope our Bird situation keeps going better than it is in San Fran. Yikes.
To me, looking at how a given city treats and uses these things is like some kind of sociological measure of the overall culture and climate of said city. I am proud to see that, overall, our city is doing a nice job using this option reasonably and hope this continues. My wife and I live by Seaboard and have taken probably 20 rides at various times over the past few weeks. Nothing but positive experiences so far…
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Use “Thor’s Hammer” tech so only those with a registered app can move them. #problemsolved
Misleading, SF has a human poop problem
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Did you read the entire article I posted or just the headline? Several other types of vandalism directed towards Birds such as snipping brake cables and covering the QR codes with stickers are mentioned. Am hopeful these issues do not show up here in Raleigh.
I was almost run over this morning by a Bird rider going full speed across from Marbles museum on the sidewalk. Sidewalk riding is going to get these scooters a bad reputation unless somehow people get the word not to ride motorized vehicles on the sidewalks. Any ideas?
An inherent flaw in any dockless system is the inability to make people accountable for how they treat the bikes, scooters, etc.
We can pretend all we want that Raleigh is going to be different, but don’t bet on it. Until the vandalizing problem is solved when the units are not in use, these companies will bleed money that they’ll have to either pass onto their users or cover through sponsorship.
Get the data from these docked systems, analyze it, and start shaping a program based on the discovered needs and trends.
…and this doesn’t even address protocols and behavior of use vis-a-vis societal norms and courtesy expectations. That’s a whole other issue that will require public education and enforcement.
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“We can pretend all we want that Raleigh is going to be different, but don’t bet on it.” So are you actually suggesting there aren’t any nuanced differences between various cities in terms behavior and general civility? I mean, people aren’t exactly pooping all over the streets of Raleigh like they are in SF.
I would like to maintain a positive supposition and hope that the reasonable usage we have seen so far will persevere (if not, it is Birds problem and they can pack their toys and go home). Of course, when dealing with humans, there will always be some negative behavior and I will concede that a bit more structure around the Birds here in Raleigh is probably needed but overall, I don’t believe we will see the outright distain and vandalism detailed in the article I posted.
Anything that can happen in any city in the country can happen in Raleigh. As the city grows, and as there are more people downtown, those possibilities increase. I’ve lived DT for 22 years and I’ve seen a lot of things.
I get what you’re saying. I too would like to maintain a positive supposition, but I am not going pretend that there aren’t inherent problems to be solved. I would rather get in front of these issues. IMO, If you wait until it gets out of control, it’s too late.
I’m not saying that you are saying this, but hoping it all works out is not a strategy.
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Here’s a nice discussion of the scooter phenomenon in the Strongtowns.org podcast. Of particular note is the claim that these things pay for themselves in about 6 months. There’s big money to be made, these companies are very well backed financially, they might have the muscle to get legislation and promote good infrastructure that bike advocates have lacked.
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Oh for the love of, it’s just a matter of time that these things get removed by citizens. Went downtown twice this weekend and had to dodge them all day long on sidewalks and street. Great idea until you add a person to the scooter. Raleigh stop following every other city’s fade and lead instead.
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Agree, it’s a childish immature form of movement, start walking, how lazy are kids today.
To your point, I think people see Birds more as toys than transportation. That plus the lack of effort needed to ride these (vs. a bike, for example), is probably what leads to the bad behavior.
I’m still noting about 85-90% rate of sidewalk riding—even in areas where car traffic is light or non-existent (e.g., near Union Station/Dillon). I’ve also seen them on greenways lately. Although I did see someone riding one on Western Blvd (doh!) in the street, presumably because the sidewalk ran out.
We encountered about five people riding non-Bird personal electric scooters on the sidewalk on Cabarrus St by the amphitheater on Sunday. No car traffic to speak of on the street. These were fancypants scooters with a V-shaped foot board. Birds won’t be the only scooters on sidewalks for long.
Immature form of movement? Jbfc, it’s an easy way to get somewhere within a few miles without sweating and spending more than a few bucks.
I’m sure many people do ride these as a toy at first but they lose their appeal as that after a ride or two. I use them almost daily now as they’ve allowed me to expand my lunch options working outside of downtown. If I don’t see one near me, I don’t go out to lunch that day. I’m not walking or riding a Lime Bike in this heat.
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Re: v-shaped scooters. I saw those the other day and thought they were rentals similar to the segway tours. The people all had matching helmets.
FYI, Lime Bike has a version of the scooter so I imagine we’ll see those soon. That may be why NCSU isn’t playing nice with Bird.
I didn’t really notice the helmets, but I bet you’re right about them being rentals.
Good point about Lime. They also have electric bikes, and it looks like they’ve recently added those to the offerings at NC State. I work at State and ride my bike to work often, and I noticed what seemed like a lot more Lime Bikes at some of the usual spots this week, probably in preparation for student move-in.
I wonder if the bike lane now needs to be rethought. We don’t need bike lanes, we need:
- Multi-use lanes
- Personal mobility device lanes
- “Something much cooler than I can think of” lane
Someone more creative help me out here. 
It’s a strange in-between, to fast for the sidewalk but not fast and sturdy enough for the street. Do the downtown streeets need a third area to exist for bikes, scooters, and whatever comes next? We’ve clearly separated pedestrians and cars so shouldn’t we add a third separation?
I do sometimes find a group of scooters on the sidewalk annoying and while I want to say, “ride on the street!” to them, I sometimes think they are just playing it safe. The street isn’t inviting for scooters.
Or it’s yet again another reflection of our car bias that streets are for cars and not for people.
Just some more thoughts as I enjoy the scooters being absorbed into Raleigh.
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they can be Alt Lanes
friends used to walking and biking in Germany and my local family members all love the scooters but often ride them on the sidewalk because they feel in danger when they use them on the streets.
riding down Hillsborough from downtown to NCSU, I really felt exposed through the construction zone.
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That’s a great point. I don’t think they should be allowed on the sidewalk, though. The speed is comparable to a bicycle so they should use that lane. If you want to play it safe, take an alternate street like cyclists do. Maybe they should re-brand the bike lanes as alt-lanes.
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