Columbus: Lime Bringing Scooters Back, Offering Free Rides for Health Care Workers

 

Lime is returning to the Columbus market today, deploying about a hundred of its rentable electric scooters around several central city neighborhoods.

 

Crew Cypher, Midwest General Manager for Lime, said that more scooters could be added in the future, depending on demand. The deployment comes along with a new policy that will offer free 30-minute rides for workers in the health care, public safety and law enforcement sectors.

 

“The goal is to help workers who might otherwise have difficulty, either because they don’t want to take public transit or rideshare,” said Cypher. “Scooters offer a socially isolating way of traveling and can help alleviate concerns over traveling in proximity to others.”

 

Columbus is one of 14 markets worldwide in which Lime is rolling out the free ride program.

 

More below:

https://www.columbusunderground.com/lime-bringing-scooters-back-offering-free-rides-for-health-care-workers-bw1

 

Scooters are back in town, and companies say they are cleaning and disinfecting them more often. But will riders come back?

 

 

Scooters return to Columbus amid concerns over cleaning

 

Two companies have dropped electric scooters back into Columbus as the weather warms, and they say they are increasing the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting scooters using products that the CDC recommends because of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Lime has placed 150 scooters along and near the North High Street corridor between Downtown and the Ohio State University campus, as well as in Franklinton.  Meanwhile, scooter company Spin dropped 50 this month near the OSU Wexner Medical Center and the company is placing more in areas such as the Short North.  There are currently three scooter vendors with permits for the city: Lime, Spin and Bird.  Bird hasn’t yet put scooters on the streets here but plans to next week.  Each is permitted to have up to 500 units deployed, with a percentage needing to be in the city’s poorer neighborhoods such as Linden and Franklinton.

 

On Thursday, Malik Carrington was riding a Spin scooter down Oak Street after leaving his job at Winans Chocolates & Coffees, Downtown.  He was wearing a mask and transparent gloves.  Asked whether he believes the companies will thoroughly clean scooters, he said, “I kind of doubt it.”  But Carrington, 25, said he will continue to use them and wear a mask and gloves. ... The Columbus Public Health Department also said riders should wash their hands or use hand sanitizer before and after each ride.

 

MORE:  https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200508/scooters-return-to-columbus-amid-concerns-over-cleaning

The Segway is dead.  Long live the Segway:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/the-segway-is-officially-over/ar-BB15SLDu?ocid=spartandhp

Paul Blart is going to wind up losing weight.

On ‎6‎/‎23‎/‎2020 at 8:34 PM, jmecklenborg said:

The Segway is dead.  Long live the Segway:

 

 

Revel pulls its electric mopeds off NYC streets following second death in as many weeks:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/revel-pauses-it-service-in-new-york-city-following-deaths/ar-BB17hiaj?ocid=spartandhp

 

I'm not from Columbus... so I'm confused what "violent crime" has to do with scooters? 

1 hour ago, jwulsin said:

I'm not from Columbus... so I'm confused what "violent crime" has to do with scooters? 

 

Maybe people being hit over the head with scooters and having their wallets stolen.  I have no idea, but equally curious!

I was in the Short North this weekend. It was lively. Lots of people riding scooters. A few on the sidewalks were annoying since they are not supposed to ride on the sidewalk and the sidewalks were generally packed with pedestrians. But I never felt unsafe. Not sure how prohibiting scooters is supposed to help with a rise in violent crime? And also, is there really a rise in violent crime? I actually doubt that.

5 minutes ago, DEPACincy said:

And also, is there really a rise in violent crime? I actually doubt that.

 

Violent crime is way up in the city. It's already the second most violent year on record in terms of homicides, and we still have 3 months to go. We are way ahead of last year's pace, which is currently the most violent year on record. Now, that's for the entire city, but it certainly seems to be way up along High Street as well. There have been a few nights recently where multiple people were shot in the same night. 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, DEPACincy said:

Not sure how prohibiting scooters is supposed to help with a rise in violent crime?

 

Agree - scooters don't mug people, people mug people.

 

My guess is that perpetrators used the scooters to swoop in/out. It is pretty easy to sneak up on someone on one of those things, and most successful muggings rely upon the victim being caught off guard.

5 minutes ago, Ram23 said:

 

Agree - scooters don't mug people, people mug people.

 

My guess is that perpetrators used the scooters to swoop in/out. It is pretty easy to sneak up on someone on one of those things, and most successful muggings rely upon the victim being caught off guard.

 

The scooters also provide for an inconspicuous mode of transportation. There are tons of people riding those scooters up and down High Street and various other parts of the city. It's very easy to blend in with the crowd and still get away without being overly noticeable or identifiable. If you are driving a car, you are easily identifiable and your mobility is very limited in the SN area. If you are on a bike, you still have good mobility but your bike will be identifiable and just the fact that you are on a bike (at night) will be significant differentiating factor. 

 

I'm not going to argue for or against the scooter situation because, quite frankly, I don't care. I'm hardly ever in the SN and I never use the scooters. But, I can certainly see the logic behind removing them as part of a (hopefully) larger overall effort to reduce crime in the area.  

3 hours ago, cbussoccer said:

 

Violent crime is way up in the city. It's already the second most violent year on record in terms of homicides, and we still have 3 months to go. We are way ahead of last year's pace, which is currently the most violent year on record. Now, that's for the entire city, but it certainly seems to be way up along High Street as well. There have been a few nights recently where multiple people were shot in the same night. 

 

 

 

 

Across the country, homicides are up but many other crime categories have fallen. That's why I expressed doubt. The other thing is that crime is usually very clustered in just a few neighborhoods. I believe that crime is up in Columbus overall, but I think the likelihood of being a victim of a crime in the Short North was, and still is, very very small.

6 hours ago, jwulsin said:

I'm not from Columbus... so I'm confused what "violent crime" has to do with scooters? 

 

From the press release (though of course that's the official spin, but to the extent it's credible), it's not that criminals are using e-scooters as getaway vehicles, or forming roving raiding Mad Max-style gangs on e-scooters, it's that people are operating the scooters themselves unsafely in a dense, high-traffic neighborhood.

City Now Restricting Scooter Use in the Short North

 

A new policy that went into effect yesterday afternoon will restrict the use of scooters in the Short North. Users will not be able to park or ride the rentable devices along North High Street between Goodale Street and Fifth Avenue.

 

The city’s Department of Public Service, which handles the permitting process for companies that want to place scooters or other “shared mobility devices” on the streets of Columbus, sent a letter to the Short North Alliance yesterday announcing that the new policy would go into effect at 5 p.m.

 

“The Department of Public Service has had conversations with the Department of Public Safety & the Division of Police on what we could do to support their efforts to curb violent crime in the Short North,” said spokesperson Debbie Briner, in a statement. “The ban will help the police address their concerns about scooters being misused and riders displaying dangerous or illegal behavior. It’s created a public safety risk in this dense urban neighborhood.”

...

As for how the new restrictions will help to curb violent crime in the area, Glenn McEntyre, assistant director of the Department of Public Safety, told CU that “scooters have been used in the commission of crimes, including armed robberies of people walking down the streets.”

 

He said the impetus for the new rules was “a combination of…dangerous behaviors,” related both to those types of crimes and to the way the scooters are ridden in the neighborhood.

 

More below:

https://www.columbusunderground.com/city-now-restricting-scooter-use-in-short-north-bw1/

 

I'm not from Columbus, so my knowledge is limited. But isn't the short north supposed to be a growing, young, urban, car-free type neighborhood?---the very neighborhood vibe and land use types that are aligned perfectly for scooters? Does the city of Columbus think its too successful and therefore must make it less vibrant? I don't get it.

21 minutes ago, Pugu said:

I'm not from Columbus, so my knowledge is limited. But isn't the short north supposed to be a growing, young, urban, car-free type neighborhood?---the very neighborhood vibe and land use types that are aligned perfectly for scooters? Does the city of Columbus think its too successful and therefore must make it less vibrant? I don't get it.

They are using them for armed robberies...quickly scooting in, robbing people, and them quickly getting away. Hopefully this is a temporary measure as they need to come up with a much more comprehensive approach to crime, which is soaring it appears in Cbus.

 

I have a feeling it is more about the crime and less about "hazardous or dangerous use" of the scooters in general. No area can remain vibrant and successful with growing numbers of bold violent crimes occurring. This part is JMO of course. I do hope they get the problems under control(not just in the SN but in the city overall) and the scooters can come back.

Edited September 22, 20213 yr by Toddguy

34 minutes ago, Toddguy said:

Hopefully this is a temporary measure as they need to come up with a much more comprehensive approach to crime, which is soaring it appears in Cbus.

 

 

 

This more belongs in the Columbus Crime thread, but since it's being brought up here...I'm not seeing a lot of evidence, outside of murders, that the violent crime rate is "soaring" in Columbus.

I bet a lot of the people who commit murders in Columbus flee the scene by car. Guess the city should ban cars too as that will stop the murders. It seems like Columbus is taking the wrong approach in addressing crime. Attacking the mode of transportation is not the solution....🥺

4 hours ago, Toddguy said:

I have a feeling it is more about the crime and less about "hazardous or dangerous use" of the scooters in general.

 

I think it is actually that there are people who view them as a nuisance, especially when people ride them on crowded sidewalks. They know that "we're banning scooters because they are annoying" isn't a winning argument so they landed on "they're dangerous because people use them to commit crimes."

4 hours ago, DarkandStormy said:

 

This more belongs in the Columbus Crime thread, but since it's being brought up here...I'm not seeing a lot of evidence, outside of murders, that the violent crime rate is "soaring" in Columbus.

 

Yea, it's a little disheartening to see the "crime is soaring" rhetoric used as an excuse on an urbanist website of all places. Crime is not soaring. It might be up over the last year and a half in some categories but it is down in others. There's also the fact that we are still in the middle of a pandemic that is distorting the trend, which is that crime has been falling for decades and is still near historic lows. We should all be hesitant to spread the crime panic narrative.

I saw some Amish people in Cincinnati this past weekend who didn't understand how these scooters work.  They were just riding around on them unpowered. 

 

Columbus rolls out new Veo rental scooters this weekend 

 

Starting today, Veo's bikes and electric scooters — including seated scooters — will be available to rent in Columbus. The new partnership with the city of Columbus replaces Lyft's CoGo bikes (which were removed last month). The city is also reducing the number of scooter options in the city: it allowed permits to lapse for Bird and Lime at the end of 2024.

 

Veo will eventually offer standing scooters, seated scooters, pedal-assist e-bikes, pedal bikes and two-seated e-bikes. They will start with 500 vehicles across the city and are capped at 2,000.

 

Addressing the problem of abandoned scooters blocking sidewalks or handicap curb ramps was a top priority in negotiating these contracts with Veo and Spin.

The city is working with Veo and Spin so their apps guide riders to park their devices in appropriate locations like bike racks, scooter corrals or areas of sidewalk where there is room.

 

The city intends to invest its profits from the rides into expanding the parking infrastructure for bikes and scooters around the city.

 

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2025/03/15/veo-rentable-e-scooters-e-bikes-roll-out-in-columbus-this-weekend/82365009007/

 

 

6 hours ago, Luvcbus said:

 

Columbus rolls out new Veo rental scooters this weekend 

 

Starting today, Veo's bikes and electric scooters — including seated scooters — will be available to rent in Columbus. The new partnership with the city of Columbus replaces Lyft's CoGo bikes (which were removed last month). The city is also reducing the number of scooter options in the city: it allowed permits to lapse for Bird and Lime at the end of 2024.

 

Veo will eventually offer standing scooters, seated scooters, pedal-assist e-bikes, pedal bikes and two-seated e-bikes. They will start with 500 vehicles across the city and are capped at 2,000.

 

Addressing the problem of abandoned scooters blocking sidewalks or handicap curb ramps was a top priority in negotiating these contracts with Veo and Spin.

The city is working with Veo and Spin so their apps guide riders to park their devices in appropriate locations like bike racks, scooter corrals or areas of sidewalk where there is room.

 

The city intends to invest its profits from the rides into expanding the parking infrastructure for bikes and scooters around the city.

 

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2025/03/15/veo-rentable-e-scooters-e-bikes-roll-out-in-columbus-this-weekend/82365009007/

 

 

These have been in Cleveland for the last year. Their cosmo/apollo scooters/bikes are the best micromobility rental option out there in my opinion. Their regular scooters make for a pretty bumpy ride though. But now if I'm looking to ride, I'll check their app for a cosmo or apollo nearby first, and if there isn't I'll check the bird app for a scooter. 

Edited March 15Mar 15 by PlanCleveland