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Bolt To Drop ‘More Robust’ Scooters In Richmond To Help Combat Vandalism

VCU CNS | October 1, 2019

Topics: Bolt Chariot, Bolt Mobility, bolt scooters, e-scooters, Richmond Department of Public Works, RVA Transit Week, scooter vandalism

With vandalism significantly diminishing Bolt’s local fleet, the e-scooter company is bringing in stronger reinforcements.

A new model of Bolt Mobility’s dockless electric scooters will roll into Richmond next month following a spate of reported vandalism, the company announced.

The Bolt Chariot is a heavier, reinforced update to the current scooter design, equipped with rear and front brakes, undercarriage lights, and a more balanced base. The new model made its trial debut in Richmond last week during an informal panel discussion at Basic City Beer Co. in Southside, as part of RVA Transit Week.

“Our next generation of scooters, the Chariot, has a much more robust design,” said Will Nicholas, Bolt’s vice president of operations. 

The new model will have extended battery life and “be more challenging to misuse,” according to Nicholas. In addition to the dual brakes and brake lights, the Chariot model contains bag, cell phone, and cup holders. 

Nicholas spoke at the panel alongside RVA Magazine contributor Wyatt Gordon, also a reporter from the online blog Greater Greater Washington, and Lynne Lancaster, deputy director of parking and transportation at the Richmond Department of Public Works.

Bolt Mobility saw higher vandalism rates in Richmond than any of its other 11 markets at the time during its first five weeks in the city, according to multiple news reports. Although the company paid roughly $45,000 to distribute 500 of its scooters in early June, high vandalism rates have dwindled the fleet’s numbers.

“We have fewer than 300 right now,” Nicholas said. “Some of them are ridden to the point of exhaustion. Others, it’s been reported on, have been vandalized.”

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported in July that 107 of Bolt’s 370 scooters in Richmond had been vandalized.

Gordon, a transportation reporter who’s covered the industry in cities like Washington D.C., as well as here in Richmond for RVA Mag, said electric scooters get a bad rap.

“They’re kind of the vape pens of the transportation sector,” Gordon said. “That’s because you look at users, and they tend to be younger people, they tend to skew male.”

Panel for RVA Transit Week. From left to right: Will Nicholas, Wyatt Gordon, Lynne Lancaster. Photo by Andrew Ringle | VCU CNS

Michael Calderon, a Virginia Commonwealth University student who uses an electric scooter to get around campus, said he chooses not to use Bolts because they lack endurance and “break down very easily.”

Calderon said he’ll probably try the Chariot model in October, but afterward he’ll go back to using his own. 

Other VCU students, such as sophomore Sam Musselman, have yet to try Bolt’s scooters since they arrived on campus.

“I own a bike actually, and I think that’s a cheaper way because you don’t have to pay for it,” the film major said.

Musselman said the scooters are effective, but there needs to be more regulation to prevent recklessness.

“They fly up behind you; they’re kind of quiet too,” he said. “I’ve seen people just leave them on the ground. They just fall over, they’re not stable.”

The new model e-scooter is already available in other markets, such as New York, Baltimore, and Portland, Oregon. The company is also accepting pre-orders through its website, with a slated delivery for November.

Written by Andrew Ringle, Capital News Service. Top Photo: Founder Usain Bolt with a scooter, courtesy of Bolt Mobility.

Dude, Where’s my Bolt?

RVA Staff | August 5, 2019

Topics: bird scooters, bolt scooters, City of richmond, city of richmond pilot program, e-scooters, jailbreak, jailbreak bolt, jailbreak scooter, jailbroken, Mayor Levar Stoney, public transportation, scooter program, scooters, stoney

E-scooters may be here to stay, but with concerns about accidents, underage driving, and even “jailbreaking” scooters for free rides, it seems there are still issues that need to be dealt with.

Everyone remembers Bird scooters… In the dumpster. In your yard. On fire. In a dumpster that was thrown into your yard that also happens to be on fire. 

Bird are gone, their impounded scooters sold off at rock bottom prices by the city earlier this summer. But e-scooters are here now, for better or worse, and have continued to increase their presence in the city. They come out of nowhere, from companies we’ve never previously heard of. And while convenient, they have largely been a nuisance, causing injuries, vandalism, and accidents police don’t know how to regulate. If the City of Richmond had a plan for what transportation looked like in the city, E-scooters had never really been a part of it. Until Bolt. 

Set up through a city ordinance last June, Bolt Mobility is the newest company to enter the Richmond market. Despite its promise to play by the rules, Bolt is now dealing with a problem far worse than occasional towing or lack of sidewalk space. 

As it turns out, their scooters are pretty easy to hack. 

PHOTO: Bolt Scooters via Instagram

Any iPhone user knows the term “jailbreaking,” which, through some warranty-violating programming hacks, eliminates all restrictions in the software and allows the user to essentially own the object — phone or scooter — free of charge, to use as they please. 

It may be morally wrong, but for many it seems financially sound. Like other e-scooter companies, Bolt operates through a smartphone app that riders can use to locate scooters and pay to ride them. They’re not cheap: scooters cost $1 to start, 15 cents per minute, and require a security deposit of $5 per scooter (which gets refunded to the rider in 5-7 business days). In essence, according to Bolt, a 20 minute ride should cost no more than $4 (once you get your deposit back a week later). But four dollars adds up; it’s almost two gallons of gas, or the minimum price of an Uber ride. 

Over the past year or so, scooter hacking has become a cottage industry around the world. In fact, the market for jailbroken scooters has become more enterprising and lucrative than that of the legitimate scooter companies. 

Online forums and videos on YouTube itemize operation costs for use of the scooters, and demonstrate within six to eight minutes that any Richmonder will be financially better off hacking their ride instead of paying. Some even itemize the step-by-step process of hacking and selling the scooters. 

And for riders who live outside of major cities, paying a flat fee of $200-$250 for their own scooter can be more convenient than spending the better part of the day searching for one to legally ride. 

Another upside: when a different rider approaches the jailbroken scooter, they cannot access it the way they can a non-jailbroken scooter. Jailbroken scooters are personalized to each rider, and cannot be used by anyone other than the owner. 

Richmond is the third city in Virginia, and the 13th nationwide, to allow Bolt to operate legally on their streets. Richmond was deemed a prime location to bring these e-scooters due to the tremendous growth the city is experiencing. 

“Richmond will do this the right way,” Mayor Levar Stoney said in a press release, “We will implement a legal and appropriate dockless scooter and bicycle program, with proper safety regulations to protect scooter users, pedestrians, and other citizens.” 

Bolt announced their summer arrival at a public ride event with Mayor Stoney in Monroe Park. Bolt paid the city $45,000 to drop an initial 500 e-scooters throughout city, and will continue to pay $1500 for every new scooter they register. 

Will Nicholas, Bolt’s executive VP of operations, does all of the ribbon-cutting and hand-shaking. 

“Bolt is super excited to take part in the massive and impressive growth that this city has gone through, in order to provide simple, sustainable, and safe transportation options for everyone,” Nicholas said. 

The Department of Public Works oversees the pilot program, while the City Council is in charge of determining which neighborhoods should be targeted. According to Nicholas, Bolt offers discounted rides to people who apply and demonstrate a need based on enrollment in a federal safety net program or living in subsidized housing. However, Bolt not commented on which neighborhoods have been chosen for these programs, and whether scooters have been distributed to them or not. 

PHOTO: Bolt Scooters via Instagram

“Bolt is committed to the positive, productive partnership it has with the city of Richmond,” Nicholas said. “We continue to collaborate with the DOPW and the City Council to provide affordable and reliable e-scooters to all neighborhoods throughout Richmond.” 

Donna Chen, professor of engineering systems and environment at UVA, sees these scooters as the next variable in the ever-evolving transportation algorithm. 

“We didn’t have a massive number of privately-owned scooters before these descended upon our city, so they are an interesting case, because they are giving people — cities in particular — a lot of headaches in terms of how we regulate these things,” Chen said. “Should we regulate them? What types of infrastructure should they use? Should the people who use scooters have some kind of training or license before they’re allowed to hop on them?”

Concerns with the scooters’ speed (which maxes out of 15 mph — still relatively fast depending on the neighborhood one is riding through), safety, and reports of underage driving could leave Bolt facing a California wildfire in its own right. 

“The true problem is that they reside in this sort of grey space, somewhere between non-motorized modes [of transportation], such as bicycling or walking, and fully-motorized modes such as driving,” said Chen. “Driving is much more regulated than the non-motorized modes, because they travel at faster speeds — therefore [there] is a safety liability.” 

According to Bolt, the age limit to operate these scooters is 18. An age restriction is set into place to help with safety issues, just as it is with motorized vehicles and bikes. 

“We strive to ensure that not only are all riders above the age of 18, but that riders are educated on the proper use of our scooters,” Nicholas said in a statement to NBC12. “Helmets are available free of charge to anyone who requests one, and we have delivered hundreds in Richmond so far.” 

According to Bolt, a self-certification process that allows Bolts to be operated without a driver’s license is in the works, but has not yet been implemented. Bird scooters required drivers to provide a picture of a valid driver’s license before operating a scooter — but Bolt uses a different monitor system. 

Bearing in mind the mistakes of scooter companies past, Bolt has implemented its own form of security system with a warning signal that says it all: “Stop moving the e-scooter or I will call the police on you.” 

The system, according to Bolt, is on from 5a.m. to 9a.m., seven days a week. The Richmond Police Department stated that the warning signal is handled by the Department of Emergency Communications. Bolt Mobility also has a 24/7 customer support service to address riders directly. 

However, there’s still very little they can do to deter children from using the scooters. 

“Our terms and conditions, printed on our scooters and in-app messaging, clearly state that anyone under the age of 18 is prohibited from using our service,” Nicholas said. “Unfortunately, Bolt does not have the ability to restrict use [by] the parents and guardians who choose to allow their sons and daughters to ride using their accounts.” 

PHOTO: Bolt Scooters via Instagram

E-scooter companies like Bolt Mobility were founded to profit from gaps in transportation access in cities across the country. Emission-free and much smaller than any car, let alone the SUVs that are increasingly prevalent on our streets, scooters are a vital alternative for next-gen transportation. Unfortunately, the focus on bringing something new and different to Richmond’s streets seems to have resulted in some factors not being taken into consideration.

“No city wants to feel like it’s being left behind,” said Chen. “There’s a lot of transportation innovation happening, and every city wants what every city has. You don’t want to be that city that said no to scooters when everybody else is doing it, especially if it really is impacting mobility in a positive way.”

By working with the city rather than illegally invading our streets, Bolt has taken a more positive approach than any previous e-scooter company. However, it seems there are still a few bugs left in the system.

Written by John Donegan and Brea Hill.

Are Dockless Scooters Coming Back to Richmond?

David Streever | September 19, 2018

Topics: bird scooters, city government, dockless scooters, e-scooters, Levar Stoney

Scooter fans, rejoice; Mayor Levar Stoney has just announced a draft ordinance for motorized, dockless scooters and bikes in a press release, citing support for “innovative transportation options for Richmonders.”

In a tweet, Stoney said he was “Excited to propose a new transportation option, done the right way, that will help residents ‘go the last mile,'” referencing the much-derided bike share program.

Excited to propose a new transportation option, done the right way, that will help residents “go the last mile.” 🛴 🚲 pic.twitter.com/K5W21AU5Bx

— Levar M. Stoney (@LevarStoney) September 19, 2018

The proposed ordinance goes to Richmond City Council on September 24. According to Stoney’s release, the ordinance will cover the following four points:

  • Require a non-refundable application fee of $1,500 for scooter companies and an annual permit fee, which will be based on the number of scooters
  • Require dockless scooter companies to provide customer service during all hours of scooter operation
  • Educate riders on legal parking requirements. Scooters must be parked standing upright and outside the path of travel on sidewalks. Upon notification, improperly parked scooters are required to be removed by the company in a timely manner
  • Establish necessary safety practices (e.g. promoting the use of a helmet) and features (such as front and rear lights).

The permit and application process would all be subject to a one-year review by the Department of Public Works if council approves the measures.

On Twitter, transportation advocates and scooter fans alike took the announcement as welcome news.

Reached by phone, one of those activists, Ross Catrow of RVA Rapid Transit, said “I’m excited that they’re even considering an ordinance.” Without having a chance to review the ordinance in full, he said he liked the four bullet points, but was hoping to see more in the final proposal.

In addition to data sharing on usage, he also wanted to make sure the scooters were accessible to residents regardless of income. “In other cities, there also doing equity requirements, where the operator would have some sort of equity agreement to make sure it’s accessible to all residents,” he said, citing Seattle as “the best example” of a comprehensive ordinance.

While many cities adopted legislation quickly, a recent Washington Post article found that incomplete ordinances caused problems and setbacks, but described the Seattle legislation as “one of the most comprehensive sets of regulations for the industry in the nation.”

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