Joint Committee: Transportation and Public Way; Pedestrian and Traffic Safety; License and Consumer Protection

You might have noticed e-scooters appear and disappear from Chicago streets. This is because @ChicagoDOT has been running pilots, but never made scooters permanent. The last pilot ran from Aug to Dec 2020. The full report was just released two weeks ago: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/cdot/provdrs/future_projects_andconcepts/news/2021/may/cdot-releases-evaluation-of-2020-e-scooter-pilot-program.html

You can follow the e-scooter hearing at the Council Chambers livestream yourself at https://livestream.com/accounts/28669066/events/8800236 or just follow my thread. Other interested folks I’m sure include @streetsblogchi @activetrans @ChicagoScooters

Called to order at 1:07p by Ald Howard Brookins @AldHBrookinsJr Ald Walter Burnett asks “who’s running this meeting? I know there are three committees”

Ald. Emma Mitts jumps in to call roll. Quite a few Alderman on these committees not present https://t.co/xrocGphgtu

But @EmmaMittsAld37 says they do have quorum. Ald Brookins says we will have representatives from @limebike then @BirdRide then Spin, and followed by @ChicagoDOT.

Lee Foley from #LimeScooter: “the pilot was a success” - We were 1/3rd of the total fleet, but provided 45% of all trips citywide. We were 55% of trips of equity areas. Our team prioritized automatic discounts on south and west sides. https://t.co/E3fd6h3DQ4

Sam Cooper @SCoopernyc from @BirdRide: Bird did 10 community events for safety. We provided accessible seated e-scooters at no cost for participants. our “safety quiz” was shown to 96k riders. https://t.co/ozI9nvNO80

Bird cont: Our local fleet managers worked block by block on maintenance, rebalancing, and sanitization. 60% of our local partners identified as BIPOC.
Going forward we recommend: a multi-year license program for a year round transportation option.

Frank Speek for Spin Scooter: Spin started in SanFran and was acquired Ford in 2018. Spin hired 37 full-time W-2 employees with healthcare. We collaborated with north Lawndale employment network. We saw a 75% decrease in complaints from the first pilot. https://t.co/HXdSIlNKDK

Spin emphasizes tech they can provide in future: we have sidewalk riding detection tech using an onboard camera and AI. We would also provide “spinhubs,” which allow docking, charging, and reduce sidewalk clutter. We want to provide a thoughtful and safe micromobility service.

Ald. Mitts questions each rep on safety “I do support the scooters, and we have had constant improvement, but what new safety initiatives are being put in place?” Lime: the safety record is about the same as bikes. Bird: scooters are best in bike lanes for safety.

Ald Burnett: “I saw three people riding scooters yesterday” - so people are even buying and riding their own scooters. We need policy not just for vendors but for general public - just as we do with bikes.

Now city $: what would future revenue be? CDOT Comm. @gia_biagi says city took in 1.2 mill in license fees from the 3 companies in last pilot. This is up front. Then a 9% lease tax lease tax that increases with more rides. This also applies to zip cars, divvy bikes, etc.

Ald Burnett: how much more $ if we continue in the future? 2X? 4X?
Biagi: it’s difficult to project because COVID / stay at home affected the pilot. But especially if we expanded to downtown for tourists and biz, would be “quite a bit of upside”

Ald Burnett: we had quite a few of riders, esp. younger, that don’t know the rules of the road or weren’t safe. We have a responsibility to teach people.

Ald David Moore is frustrated: for my office, I got so many calls, I almost needed a full-time person. Ppl don’t call 311 they call my office. We gotta figure that out before we go full-scale. I can’t support. “I’m not going through another guinea pig situation” I want to opt out https://t.co/29YYC2jcu1

.@aldermanscott24: is there an age limit on who can rent the scooters?
A: must be 18yrs. We did not use drivers license verification during the pilot. Would require people to scan the license into the app. There are cons to that, may be a barrier to people to use it.

.@DanielLaSpata: The report said that all 3 vendors had sidewalk detection tech, but that none of the vendors actually used it. Why?
Lime, Spin, Bird: COVID impacted supply chain. Also, the tech needed accuracy improvement. We now all have it deployed now in downtown Milwaukee

Diversity discussion: 10.5% were black and 16% were latino riders. Lime: This was self-reported survey and may not be accurate CDOT: but we worked with UIC TransLab and it should be a representative sample.

Ald. LaSpata: the cost per min price increased in the second pilot. It made the avg ride more like $8! How do we work together to bring this down?
A: this price is on par nationally. The first cheap price wasn’t sustainable. But equity discounts were provided.

.@AldermanSmith43: Lincoln Park my ward appeared to be the most popular area in the pilot, which was “not a surprise.” If a scooter rider hits a pothole and gets hurt and sues the city, what indemnification does the city have? Do people sign a waiver of liability?

Insurance is similar to Divvy, but Biagi and companies say that legal will have to answer this more.
Ald Smith: as a city council, we have decided that benefits of bikes outweigh the risks. Need to decide if scooters are the same. I’m concerned & not convinced. https://t.co/K3VxcG4Uii

Ald. Harry Osterman (@48Ward): Safety education alone just won’t work. We must have tech that disables the scooter. We’ve tried education with bikes on Sheridan road, I’ve got every kind of sign and people still ride there.

Ald. @rodriguezfor22: I do not believe only one company should operate. I would oppose that. Biagi: first pilot was 10 vendors, 10 different apps. Was hard to manage, not good for customer. More recently, having just a few feels right. But we haven’t made the decision.

Did we create jobs with this?
Lime: half of our Chicago workforce were contractors, but we hire high performing workers. If we have a multi-year program we could hire. Spin: we had 37 fulltime workers. We emphasized this. Bird: we partner with “fleet manager” local companies.

.@Ald_Reboyras: “I’m not a scooter guy, I’m a bicycle guy!
When did this pilot begin? We need accident reports! “Do we have divvy scooters?” The Ald. is asking questions that have been already addressed and doesn’t seem to be familiar with the report. https://t.co/BOuz57oIcp

Ald. Carrie Austin: I was against it when first did it 19 and against it in 20. Scooters everywhere. Ludicrous. I said “don’t ride them”
“In my Ward, I have a bike route. Can they ride on a bike route?”
.@gia_biagi (patiently): we actually do want them on the bike routes. https://t.co/HbjbaFVRcC

.@AldReilly: I have 20,000-30,000 pedestrians per day in some of my Ward. Given @DivvyBikes “incredible failure” in keeping bikes off sidewalks, how would they do that? CDOT has been promising an education campaign since 2007 I’ve still never seen.

Lime: We piloted sidewalk detection tech in 2019 San Jose—software on the device. What the tech does not do, is literally stop the scooter and throttle itself and create a hazard for the user. We use warnings and eventual fines.
Ald Reilly: well that’s worse. ppl won’t listen.

Bird: we have a throttle down technology that slows and beeps when it detects sidewalks. (on certain scooters where it is installed).

.@AldPatDThompson Could our city revenue dept. have the authority to write a ticket for a scooter or bike on the sidewalk? Maybe we should discuss. Or credit cards could be automatically fined. (except for cash customers).

Ald @SSadlowskiGarza: which company was the most compliant operator for meeting the program requirements?
Biaggi: Each company was good at different things. No clear “winner” Wiedel: Spin got the least notices of violations.

Ald Ed Burke jumps in right now to say he is present for the roll call. At 2 hours after the meeting has begun. 🧐

Concluding—@ChicagoDOT Commissioner to Alders: “Thank you for so many attending. We will take it all in, we will answer all questions through the chair”
Chairman Brookins closes meeting at 3.12p. https://t.co/vFtmN24NLl

And that’s it! No decisions on the future of e-scooters in Chicago.

As always, find the important civic meetings you never knew about at @CHIdocumenters https://chicago.documenters.org/reporting/