nothin Next Up: Scooter Share | New Haven Independent

Next Up: Scooter Share

Thomas Breen photo

P3GM CEO Carlos Pujol shows off bikeshare’s electric scooters.

Updated—No smartphone? No problem. The city’s bike share system is about to replace its entire two-wheeled fleet with bicycles that riders can unlock without the help of an iPhone.

And did someone say … electric scooters?

Alders’ CSEP hearing.

Yes they did, at the most recent Board of Alders City Services and Environmental Policy (CSEP) committee meeting in the Aldermanic Chambers on the second floor of City Hall.

The alders on the committee held an hour-and-a-half public hearing this past Thursday night to check in on Bike New Haven, the short-term bicycle rental program that launched in New Haven almost exactly a year ago, on Feb. 20, 2018. The program is run by the private New York City-based company P3GM.

During the hearing, Bike New Haven Manager Carolyn Lusch and P3GM CEO Carlos Pujol updated the alders on the number of bike share stations installed (31) so far, the number of registered users (over 3,000), the number of rental sessions and bicycle trips (over 10,000 and over 15,000, respectively), and the number of miles cycled (over 12,000) that have taken place over the program’s first year in the Elm City.

Pujol and Bike New Haven Program Manager Carolyn Lusch.

They informed the alders that they are swapping out the entire existing fleet of around 100 bicycles with a new build that is friendlier to users without smartphones. They’ll also be replacing all currently installed bike share bike racks with racks that have a new sleeker” design. (Update: Lusch told the Independent on Wednesday afternoon that Pujol misspoke when he told the alders about new racks coming in. The bike share program will not be installing any new bike racks, she said.)

And, last but not least, they plans to introduce around 75 electric scooters to the local bike share program.

We have noticed that not everyone likes to pedal,” Pujol said about the scooters . These new 77-pound electric scooters, built by a company called OjO, will thus allow New Haveners to scoot along city streets at up to 20 miles per hour without once having to rotate a single foot.

The soon-to-be-former bike share bikes.

Here are some highlights from the bicycle and electric scooter updates:

• The new bicycles will be made by the German company nextbike. The current, and soon to be former, Bike New Haven bicycles are made by Noa Technologies.

Clearly, despite our efforts, we have to recognizie that [the current bikes have] fallen short,” Pujol said on Thursday.

He and Lusch said that the biggest drawback to the existing bikes is that they require users to have a smartphone to participate in the program. One has to download the Bike New Haven app, register an account, link up a credit card, and then scan a QR code on the bicycle every time one wants to go for a spin.

The new bikes, Lusch said, will allow New Haveners to rent bikes by calling a dedicated phone line or by buying a voucher from a local brick-and-mortar Bike New Haven partner. The new bikes will also have onboard computer systems that will be able to accept payments without smartphones, she said. For the iPhone-inclined, the new bikes will also have their own dedicated app.

• Pujol and Lusch didn’t have any details on what the new bike racks will look like. But, Pujol said, the new racks will have a more sleek design. All the material has been ordered.” (Update—Lusch later told the Independent that the program will not be installing new racks in New Haven, despite what she and Pujol had said during the committee hearing.)

• As for the new electric scooters, Bike New Haven hopes to roll out around 75 to existing bike share locations. The program aims to have its first scooters on the road by Earth Day on April 20.

The features of that vehicle are really about safety,” Pujol said as described the rubber tires, shocks, lights, and two brakes on the handlebars.

The electric scooters will travel up to 20 miles per hour, as far as 50. The 110-volt vehicles have extendable plugs tucked in a compartment by the front wheel.

They also have a dashboard that will allow riders to connect their smartphones to a speaker system via bluetooth so they can jam away to their own music as they ride along in the bike lane.

Pujol said riders must have a driver’s license in order to rent a bike share scooter, and that P3GM has already rolled out these very scooters in their Austin, Tex. program, and have seen an enthusiastic early response.

I am a little surprised that it was sort of mentioned in the mayor’s speech and there has been no public input,” Downtown Alder Abby Roth said, referencing Mayor Toni Harp’s brief aside about mopeds” in her recent State of the City address.

Pujol said he believes that P3GM’s current contract with the city allows the company to introduce the electric scooters without any new public approvals required, That’s the guidance he has received from the city’s Transportation, Traffic & Parking Department, he said.

City transit deputy Michael Pinto and transit director Doug Hausladen.

City transit chief Doug Hausladen and city transit deputy Michael Pinto also made an appearance before the alders on Thursday, but not so much to talk about the new electric scooters as to talk about neighbor complaints about the potential violation of state law presented by some of the bike share ad panels’ being located in historic districts and near public school playgrounds.

The two city transit officials said they have scheduled a meeting with the state Department of Transportation (DOT), which plans to send some of its officials to the Elm City to take a look in person at some of the ad panels and bike share stations. They promotes report back to the alders on whether or not the program is in violation of any state laws, after the visit with DOT officials takes place.

Correction: Bike New Haven Program Manager Carolyn Lusch issued the following corrections to statements made during the CSEP public hearing: The scooters will be 77 pounds each, not 45 pounds. They will have a 50 mile dual battery range, not a 50 – 75 mile range. Their top speed will be 20 miles per hour, but the speed can be determined by the city.

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