As cities across the world roll out electric scooter programs to residents, Chicago has opted for a much more cautious approach.
After last year's initial pilot program ended, the future of e-scooters in Chicago was in doubt. But the trendy, and sometimes controversial, method of transportation will indeed make a comeback in 2020.
The city announced Wednesday that it plans to launch a second pilot this summer to test e-scooters in Chicago because the first, which took place last summer, didn’t provide clear results on the effectiveness of them.
In June 2019, Chicago launched a four-month scooter pilot, which brought about 3,500 scooters from 10 companies like Bird and Lime to the city’s West and Northwest Sides. It is unclear how many scooters will be brought to the city by which companies for the next pilot, which would begin this upcoming summer. Between now and then, the city said it is deciding the scope, timing and location of the second e-scooter pilot.
The city says its goal with the second pilot is to identify ways to expand access to safe, reliable and equitable mobility options for Chicagoans. But the city also wants to address complaints some residents had, such as sidewalk clutter, equity and company compliance.
“The e-scooter program holds promise, it warrants additional review to determine how we hold vendors accountable, keep Chicagoans safe and improve citywide mobility,” said Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot in a statement. “While the initial pilot revealed mixed results, my team will continue to bring community members and all stakeholders to the table to identify improved guidelines and gauge if the scooter program is a viable long-term solution."
During last summer’s pilot, more than 821,000 rides were taken mostly during the evening rush period on weekdays and between 3 and 4 p.m. on weekends, according to a study released Wednesday by the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) and the Chicago Department of Transportation. The data showed that Chicago hospitals reported 192 injuries related to scooters during the pilot.
E-scooter supporters often argue that the two-wheeled vehicles help connect riders to the CTA, but the study reports that evidence to support that notion is inconclusive. The data also showed that over the duration of the pilot, ridership decreased. The number of trips taken during the last week of the pilot were half the number of rides taken during the first week.
Additionally, many trips were short, starting and ending in the same location, meaning that many riders could have just been trying out e-scooters for the first time, as opposed to using them for transportation needs.
When the pilot ended in October, the BACP and CDOT were wrapping up a survey, soliciting feedback from more than 12,000 Chicago residents on how they viewed e-scooters in the city.
Fifty nine respondents said that shared e-scooter companies should continue operating in Chicago, but the majority of pro-scooter respondents were also riders. Only 21 percent of non-riders supported the scooter program compared to 84 percent of riders.
Last summer’s pilot was 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 included Austin, Avondale, Pilsen and South Lawndale.
The city 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.
The city’s scooter pilot approach is similar to how it addressed dockless bikes in 2018 when it launched a pilot to test them on the city’s South Side. Dockless bike operators, such as Lime, Uber Jump and Pace, participated. However, it is still unclear whether the bikes will ever become permanently available in Chicago.
