As Chicago’s electric scooter pilot comes to an end next month, city officials are collecting feedback from Chicagoans on the effectiveness of the method of transportation.
The Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection and Department of Transportation has released a survey on its website and encourages every resident to take it, regardless of whether they have ridden a scooter or not.
The pilot, which began on June 15 and runs through Oct. 15, has seen nearly 675,000 e-scooter rides so far, according to CDOT, showing the demand in Chicago for micro-mobility and last-mile options.
Throughout the pilot, scooter companies have provided real-time and continuous data on operations, ridership and safety to the city as it determines whether the scooters should become a regular part of the city’s transportation landscape.
“Chicago’s scooter pilot represents a thoughtful approach to testing scooters in our city,” said Sharon Feigon, the executive director of Chicago’s Shared-Use Mobility Center, in a statement. “I welcome the evaluation of this pilot to see if scooters can provide a long-term sustainable, affordable and convenient alternative to cars.”
E-scooter rides have been concentrated on the city’s West and Northwest Sides, where the pilot's official zoning boundaries have been placed. The zone is bounded by Halsted Street and the Chicago River on the east, Irving Park Road on the north, the city’s boundary and Harlem Avenue on the west, and the Chicago River on the south. Neighborhoods covered in the pilot include Austin, Avondale, Pilsen and South Lawndale.
The pilot has enforced strict guidelines, such as requiring e-scooter companies to remove their scooters from city streets at night, and requiring vendors to retrieve and move improperly parked scooters within two hours. Throughout the pilot so far, the BACP says it has issued 39 citations to nine of the 10 e-scooter companies participating in the pilot for violating the pilot’s terms.
Lyft was the only company not to receive a citation, which comes with a maximum fine of $1,000. Lime has received only one citation, while all the other companies have received at least two. Many citations were for a company’s failure to respond to complaints within two hours and failure to have cash options listed on its website.
Chicago's scooter pilot approach is similar to how it addressed dockless bikes last year when it launched a pilot to test them on the city’s South Side. Chicago officials also gathered data about riders’ experiences in a survey once the pilot was over, though it is still unclear whether the bikes will ever become permanently available in Chicago.
Chicago’s e-scooter pilot survey will be available until Oct. 27.
“Regardless of your opinion, we want to know what all Chicagoans think about scooters in your city,” said BACP Commissioner Rosa Escareno in a statement.
