If you were on campus last year, you may remember the orange SPIN-branded scooters that lined the streets and zipped across Downtown at what felt like all hours of the day. The same could be said for almost any Pittsburgh neighborhood, with some scooters ending up in places they did not belong – inside the Liberty Tunnel or in the Allegheny River, for example. The SPIN scooters were part of a pilot-program to test alternative means of transportation. I am all for accessible transport that can help break the dependence of cars in American transit and possibly bring back walkable cities, but are scooters the answer?
They may be a step in the right direction, but the scooters were more of a distraction than anything.
I was not expecting the scooters to possibly make a return, but the same PA legislation that brought them to Pittsburgh may let SPIN extend their pilot program for another year. Sure, that is not a long time, but I am not thrilled about what may happen when they are back in the city.
This is not at the fault of SPIN, but some users did not take care of the scooters properly. As mentioned earlier, scooters were sometimes found in places they should not have been and were often abandoned on sidewalks and roads. Not only was seeing a scooter lying in the way of pedestrians and cars annoying, but it was also a safety concern. The possibility of someone getting hurt because of the irresponsibility of someone with a SPIN scooter is very real. Additionally, the fact that helmets are not a requirement for riders opens the door for injury when operating the scooter.
Thankfully, there were only 37 safety incidents reported during the time of the pilot program. Still, that does not consider the un-reported incidents and the impact that the scooters indirectly had on others.
Blocked sidewalks are also a serious hindrance to people who are unable to move the carelessly thrown scooter out of the way. Even though I can just move them, I admit that I tripped over a scooter abandoned on the sidewalk more than once. This grows to be a larger issue when the problem of unmaintained sidewalks is taken into consideration – cracked, uneven and jagged sidewalks are a barrier for anyone to get around easily in the city. When large objects such as abandoned scooters block walkways, sometimes the only choice for pedestrians is to walk right into the road which, as anybody would expect, poses a high risk to the safety of those walking. For some reason, this issue seems to be mostly exclusive to the SPIN scooters, as finding other small pay-as-you-ride vehicles such as POGOH bicycles in the middle of the road or sidewalk has not been an issue.
What’s next for the SPIN scooters? Besides talk at the PA legislature, there has been nothing officially signed into action to bring them back to Pittsburgh. If they were not such an annoyance, I would not be so opposed to their return. Smaller vehicles themselves are not the issue. Rather, it is how people have used them. Instead of worrying about the scooters, we should worry about larger transport issues at hand. We are fortunate enough to live in a city that has a sizable number of bike lanes, but to guarantee the safety of smaller vehicles such as bicycles and scooters, we need to improve infrastructure for them to function the best.
