Seemingly overnight, rentable electric bikes and scooters began popping up on Providence streets last year. The Creative Capital was in the regional vanguard of an e-transportation movement targeting hip, urban communities across the nation.
But within months, though popular with students and generally welcomed by businesses, it became clear the local fit would not be seamless.
Some residents and city officials complained about abandoned bikes and scooters routinely found strewn along streets. Following reports of criminal use of the bikes, they disappeared almost as quickly as they arrived. The scooters vanished too, when their permits expired.
But now rentable electric bikes and scooters are in the early stages of a comeback in the city – and not everyone is happy about it.
“This past summer, e-transportation devices made headlines for all the wrong reasons,” said Providence City Council Majority Leader Jo-Ann Ryan in an Oct. 31 statement. “They were left littered on public and private property; they were hacked and used for criminal activity; and in some cases, reckless operation led to collisions with pedestrians and drivers, creating serious public-safety concerns.
“I am troubled that after our bad experience with e-devices this past summer, that a rollout happened without warning and without going through a full review requested by the [City Council],” Ryan said.
But Mayor Jorge O. Elorza’s office is hoping lessons learned will help the bikes and scooters find permanent homes in the city.
Uber Technologies Inc. is retooling its JUMP bicycle-sharing system to avoid problems with vandalism and theft of the electric pedal-assisted bikes, in addition to reports of people misusing the bikes to commit crimes such as assault and robbery.
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The problems prompted the company to suspend operations in August.
“The city and JUMP are committed to providing residents and visitors with safe and equitable intermodal transit options and look forward to relaunching the bike-share program in the near future,” Elorza spokesman Victor Morente said in an email.
“The program will resume … after JUMP produces a lock design that ensures all riders can utilize the program safely and responsibly,” Morente said.
JUMP did not respond to PBN’s attempts for comment.
Meanwhile, Providence’s first two electric-motorized scooter operators, Bird Rides Inc. and Neutron Holdings Inc., doing business as Lime, have left the city. They are being replaced by two others, Spin, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Co., and VeoRide Inc.
“Bird was not awarded a permit for the latest operational calendar year … and Lime opted not to accept,” Morente explained. The two new operators were each awarded 300 scooter permits.
Spin scooters began appearing in downtown Providence on Oct. 28 and VeoRide said it was hoping to launch in Providence in November.
“We’re ready to rock ’n’ roll,” said Andrew Miles, a VeoRide regional manager.
Spin did not respond to requests for comment.
While Ryan said she supports “alternate modes of transportation,” she said they should be publicly vetted to ensure safety and accountability.
Morente disputed Ryan’s claim that the mayor’s office has kept the City Council in the dark.
Four companies responded when the city sought applications from e-scooter services in early August, Morente said. The prospective vendors were narrowed to Spin and VeoRide in early September, and the Elorza administration “worked with the appropriate representatives [of Spin and VeoRide] since then to ensure compliance with regulations and insurance requirements” and advised council staff of progress, Morente said.
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STANDING TALL: Elvira Orozco, of Providence, prepares to go for a ride on one of the Spin electric scooters that started appearing in Providence in late October. A subsidiary of Ford Motor Co., Spin was approved by the city for 300 scooters. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
A BUMPY ROAD
Providence isn’t the only location where sharable electric bikes and scooters have caused complications.
In September, Uber pulled its JUMP bikes out of Atlanta after the city enacted a nighttime ban on e-bikes and e-scooters following the deaths of four people on scooters there. JUMP e-scooters remain.
In June, the Seattle Department of Transportation penalized JUMP and Lime by cutting the number of rentable e-bikes allowed on city streets. Seattle officials acted after becoming aware of complaints about improperly parked bikes that the companies had failed to report to the city.
Portland, Ore., authorities started ticketing bicycle-sharing companies for bikes parked haphazardly on sidewalks, streets and bike paths. The companies typically pass the fines on to the riders who left them, plus a service fee, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Earlier this year, a disability-rights group sued San Diego, as well as three e-scooter companies in a class-action lawsuit, alleging that people who use wheelchairs or walkers and people with significant visual impairments were unable to travel freely or safely on sidewalks.
In most cases, sharable electric bikes and scooters can be rented and paid for through smartphone apps, typically by someone 18 or older. Usually, there’s a nominal fee to unlock the vehicles, and riders are charged based on usage time or mileage.
The JUMP bike program started in Providence in September 2018. By April, Uber and the city announced they were expanding the service from an initial 400 e-bikes to 1,100 e-bikes, covering the entire city. But over last summer, reports of criminal activity involving the bikes mounted, and the program was halted.
Meanwhile, the Bird and Lime scooters began appearing without warning around the city in July 2018. That surprise prompted the city to issue regulations for the scooters and to begin a one-year pilot program in August 2018.
It’s unclear why Lime decided to pull out after a year, but Morente said Bird’s permit was not renewed after “an extensive application evaluation.”
Elorza’s office said it is not aware of any litigation, insurance, or liability complaints or cases in Providence stemming from the e-bike and e-scooter sharing programs.
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CHEAP RIDE: Yann Behrmann, a Johnson & Wales University freshman from Haiti, checks out one of the Spin rentable e-scooters parked on Chestnut Street in Providence. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
SEEING BENEFITS
Despite the problems in Providence and elsewhere, local business and civic groups still generally support e-bike and e-scooter sharing.
“Neighborhood safety is paramount and of utmost importance, and we applaud Uber, the city of Providence and public-safety officials for taking swift action to temporarily suspend service to ensure that rigged JUMP bikes/electric scooters, wheelies, unsafe group riding and assaults on neighbors are hopefully a thing of the past,” said John Goncalves of the Providence Coalition of Neighborhood Associations.
“The myriad benefits of bike sharing, including the positive health, financial and sustainable environmental impacts, as well as the reduction in congestion and vehicle emissions, should be embraced and it’s unfortunate that a few bad actors have abused the bike-sharing privilege,” Goncalves said.
Brian Daniels, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, said the group hasn’t taken a position on bicycle- and scooter-sharing services because municipalities “should be able to determine the most appropriate role [for] electric bicycles and scooters in their transportation and mobility plans.”
The Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce has also remained neutral on the matter.
The R.I Public Transit Authority, which operates the state’s public bus system, noted that it shares a common mission with electric bikes and scooters.
“They are largely a complement to our service – enabling passengers to make those last- and first-mile connections between the bus and their starting points and destinations,” RIPTA spokeswoman Barbara Polichetti said.
Neighborhood merchant associations in Providence said they like that the bikes and scooters can ease parking issues and allow people to travel easily from neighborhood to neighborhood.
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EMPTY FEELING: Rick Simone, executive director of the Federal Hill Commerce Association, stands next to a JUMP bike rack on Spruce Street in Providence. The bikes were removed in August following reports connecting them to incidents of theft and vandalism. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
“We didn’t experience any problems,” said Rick Simone, executive director of the Federal Hill Commerce Association. “We were surprised that there was no damage or other issues. The [bike] racks were constantly empty” because people were using them.
Before the JUMP program was suspended, Simone said it was typical to see e-bikes parked outside neighborhood restaurants while riders dined inside.
“It helped people get around who normally couldn’t or who didn’t have transportation,” he added. “Or it helped them get around faster.”
Jessica Leach, president of the Wayland Square Merchants Association, said it was common to see people using the bikes and scooters around Wayland Square.
Leach did acknowledge some downsides. She said there was an occasional collision or a near-miss involving people riding the scooters on the sidewalks and patrons going in and out of stores and restaurants.
“I drive about 3 miles from my house into Wayland Square,” Leach added. “And I see them [the scooters] abandoned on the side of the road.”
‘NEW ENGLAND’S FIRST’
Electric-bicycle sharing got off to an encouraging start in December 2017.
That’s when Elorza, an avid cyclist himself, announced that the city had struck an agreement with Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Social Bicycles Inc. to operate 400 of the company’s JUMP bikes in Providence. At the time, it was billed as “New England’s first electric-bike-share system.”
The five-year agreement called for the city to buy about $400,000 in “products and services relating to the infrastructure of bicycle-sharing programs” from Social Bicycles. It also called for Social Bicycles to maintain an insurance policy of up to $2 million per incident, naming the city as an additional insured entity. Despite the problems, the agreement remains in place.
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BETTER DAYS: JUMP bikes at a rack on Empire Street in Providence last April. / PBN FILE PHOTO/CHRIS BERGENHEIM[/caption]
By the time the local JUMP service started operating in September 2018, the company was already operating more than 12,000 bikes in 40 markets. The Providence program was the result of a public-private partnership among the company, the city, RIPTA, as well as Lifespan Corp. and Tufts Health Plan.
“A bike-share program positions Providence to be a more sustainable, healthier and fun city for years to come,” Elorza said at the time.
In May 2018, several months before JUMP started operating in Providence, San Francisco-based Uber, the multinational ride-sharing giant, bought Social Bicycles.
JUMP’s initial fees in Providence were $2 for the first 30 minutes, and 7 cents per minute after that. In July, however, the fee changed to a flat 30-cents-per-minute rate.
The change “resulted in a 450% increase for an average length 20-minute ride, then costing $6,” Morente said. “Following the city’s expression of concern at the increased prices, JUMP lowered prices to $3 up front and then 15 cents per minute after 20 minutes.”
Meanwhile, incidents of JUMP bike vandalism and theft climbed, as did the reports of crimes committed with the bikes and other disturbances.
“After engaging with the community, the overwhelming response was that this initiative, although good in theory, lacked key controls such as a safety and retrieval plan,” Providence City Council President Pro Tempore Michael Correia said when the JUMP program was suspended.
The city had required Bird and Lime to maintain a general liability insurance policy of at least $1 million during the yearlong pilot program. Now the city has increased the insurance coverage requirement up to $2 million, in addition to other provisions, for the program’s second year.
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SIGNED ON: Johnson & Wales University students Brendan Moriarty and Dee Smith download the Spin app and register, before taking an e-scooter for a ride on Weybosset Street in Providence. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
READY TO ROLL
“We’re proud of our scooters,” Miles said about the design and features on VeoRide’s scooters.
VeoRide customers can unlock the scooters for $1 each, using the company’s app. Once unlocked, the scooters cost 15 cents per mile. According to the Spin website, the company charges riders $1 for each 30-minute block of usage. If someone rides for 46 minutes, for example, it will cost $2.
When someone finishes using a VeoRide, Miles explained, the rider must punch out on the app, or the meter will keep running. The company instructs riders to drop off the scooters on sidewalks or another “right of way” so that it doesn’t block public access, he added.
VeoRide’s first markets in New England were Nashua, N.H., and Lowell, Mass. The company also has scooters at several colleges and universities in the Greater Boston area, Miles said.
Spin has been part of an electric scooter pilot program in Brookline, Mass., that is scheduled to end this month. After that, Brookline officials will decide whether to continue the program.
Sue Benzuly, for one, is eager to see the e-bikes and e-scooters return to the streets of Providence.
The president of the Hope Street Merchants Association on the East Side said she is unaware of any problems in her neighborhood caused by the sharing services. She said she will be glad when the bikes and scooters fully return because she believes the alternative modes of transportation are conducive to business.
“Overall, it’s a good thing,” she said.
