Laura Glesby Photo
Alder Marx (left): “I’m concerned about scooters continuing behaviors we’re already seeing: not stopping at red lights, using phones.”
The Veo scooter and the proposed parking sites, as outlined in a city presentation.
Now that streetside e‑bike rentals have rolled into New Haven, are e‑scooters next?
Alders on the City Services and Environmental Policy Committee weighed that question, as they advanced a proposal to allow 250 rent-per-ride electric scooters in downtown New Haven.
Veo — an e‑scooter company that operates scooter systems in L.A., D.C., and New York City, as well as smaller cities like Hartford — is hoping to set up an e‑scooter system in New Haven at no financial cost to the city.
While some cities allow rented e‑scooters to operate on sidewalks and park in any location, Veo Director of Government Partnerships Jeff Hoover told alders last Thursday evening that New Haven’s e‑scooter program would be restricted to roads and designated parking spots, based on input from city officials.
Designed to be ridden in bike lanes, the scooters would go a maximum of 15 miles per hour. They would automatically slow to a stop on sidewalks, Hoover said, using “geo-fencing” technology while tracking the scooter’s location. (The tracking system also allows the company to respond to potential theft, he later explained.)
Other geographic locations could be marked as “slow-ride” or “no-ride” zones, Hoover said. He noted that Yale officials have requested that campus lawns be off limits, while the New Haven Green may be a “slow-ride” area.
The scooters would additionally have to be left in a designated parking zone, according to Hoover. If riders fail to return their scooter to a sanctioned parking spot, they would continue to get charged for the ride and receive ongoing notifications on Veo’s smartphone app.
Riders would be charged $1 to unlock the scooter on top of approximately 40 cents per minute for the ride. Riders could take out a monthly subscription for discounted rides, and a $5 subscription option would be available for SNAP recipients.
The app requires riders to be at least 18 years of age, although it’s unclear how enforceable that age minimum is.
City Transportation, Traffic & Parking Director Sandeep Aysola pitched the scooter-share program as a way of “creating more choices,” especially more alternatives to driving and using Ubers or Lyfts, for New Haveners seeking to get from one place to another.
The scooter program follows the return of a bike share program to New Haven starting last September, and the launch of a government-subsidized rideshare-style system called Via earlier this month.
Initially, Veo would concentrate the scooter sites by Yale’s campus, with many stations downtown as well as some in East Rock, Dixwell, Dwight, Wooster Square, and around Yale New Haven Hospital.
City Sustainability Director Steve Winter said the city plans to coordinate and assess data from Veo for a “one-year pilot” in order to figure out, “Do we continue with this service area? Do we expand? What does demand for vehicles look like?”
Alders expressed concerns that riders wouldn’t always park the scooters in an upright position, potentially blocking wheelchair access on the sidewalk or simply looking disorganized and unsightly.
Hoover responded that Veo plans to hire a small maintenance team to travel from site to site, using real-time information about which scooters have been tipped over, to correct the scooters’ positions.
Some alders doubted whether that strategy would be sufficient. They bounced around ideas for painted “parking spots” or physical slots to keep the parked scooters upright.
In response to a question about the business’s longevity from East Rock/Fair Haven Alder Caroline Tanbee Smith, Winter and Aysola said that they had selected Veo through an RFP process and vetted the company’s financial status.
"Woo-Hoo" For Whom?
Transit & climate directors Sandeep Aysola and Steve Winter.
Westville Alder Amy Marx expressed safety concerns about the scooters, and the way that scooter riders could potentially interact with both cars and pedestrians.
Hoover offered a statistic that out of about 9.8 million Veo scooter rides from the last year, “99.99 percent of our trips ended without reported safety issues” from either riders or police, which he said could range from a car crash to a skinned knee.
“I will be the first to say, it’s possible that someone, somewhere, had an issue and did not report it,” Hoover added.
Marx questioned whether that data would reflect similar traffic conditions to that of New Haven.
“We have a traffic safety crisis,” she said, expressing concern that scooter riders may not follow traffic laws. “I have a nightmare scenario of 250 young folks creating a difficult and dangerous situation in our city,” she said.
Aysola compared Veo’s safety to that of the city’s existing bikeshare system: “I do not see any greater risk than riding an e‑bike or a bicycle.”
“Do you have an 18-year-old son who has access to a scooter and access to a bike?” asked Marx. “I think the option of a scooter ride for a high schooler is very different from the option of a bike.”
“I don’t have an 18-year-old, but I have a three-year-old,” said Hoover. “I’d much rather have her encounter a scooter than a car.”
Hoover argued that since Veo’s scooters will not be able to ride on sidewalks and will have a 15-mile-per hour speed cap, they provide a safer and more controlled alternative to personally owned e‑scooters.
And he added that each scooter has a four-digit code that can be reported to the company if any reckless riding is witnessed.
The debate continued during the alders’ discussion just before the vote.
“I’m concerned about scooters continuing behaviors we’re already seeing: not stopping at red lights, using phones,” said Marx.
“I’m trying to tease through your point, Alder Marx,” replied East Rock/Fair Haven Alder Caroline Tanbee Smith. “Because scooters are already being ridden right now in the city by private actors.”
Marx said she appreciated Hoover’s point that Veo’s scooters could be safer alternatives to those privately owned scooters, but she expressed particular concern over the proximity of some proposed scooter locations to high schools such as Co-op, Wilbur Cross, Metropolitan Business Academy, and New Haven Academy. She said that she’d like the areas around schools to be off limits for Veo riders.
Smith asked Marx “if there’s something about a scooter in particular that brings about a bit more caution than bikes.”
Marx spoke to a “woo-hoo sort of feeling” of riding a scooter that she believes is distinct from a bike.
Committee Chair and East Rock Alder Anna Festa recalled buying an e‑scooter for her son to use at UConn. Once she saw the scooter in action, however, she recalled being “scared to death that my child, who is on the scooter without any speed controls, was going 25 miles an hour.”
“All three of my boys had to try it, and they all had the ‘woo-hoo effect,’” Festa said. “But I will tell you, the ‘woo-hoo effect’ dies down.”
She said she does support the Veo program because of the 15 miles-per-hour speed caps and sidewalk-riding controls built into the scooters.
“I don’t think it’s any different than bikes on the road,” Festa said. “You have the irresponsible bike rider, you have the irresponsible scooter rider, you have the irresponsible driver. But we can’t stop living because of them.”
She expressed optimism that the scooters could provide a more sustainable transit option compared to driving (or hailing an Uber or Lyft) for relatively short distances.
Downtown/Yale Alder Kiana Flores suggested that the Veo app could remind users of the relevant traffic laws (or the need to park the scooters in an upright manner) before the ride begins, “similar to how Uber sends a notification that says ‘Watch out for cyclists as you’re opening your door.’”
The alders ultimately decided to vote the item out of committee, sending it to the full Board of Alders for a first and second reading. They committed to reviewing further data and assessing potential scooter-parking systems before the full board’s final vote.
“Not everyone has a car to drive around. Not everyone lives on a bus route,” said Hill Alder Kampton Singh. “I see this as a responsible mode of transportation.”
If the agreement is approved without delay, Veo would begin implementing the program around May.