Thomas Breen photo
Scoot scoot! New Veo e-scooters, parked at Elm near Church.
Rent-per-ride e‑scooters popped up on sidewalks in and around downtown Friday — with the launch of New Haven’s newest mode of non-car transportation.
Those scooters are owned and operated by the company Veo. City spokesperson Lenny Speiller and a Veo customer service rep confirmed that the e‑scooters’ first day in New Haven was Friday.
Dozens of e‑scooters appear to be available. The program is slated to build up to 300 in total.
The e‑scooters’ locations — and the areas of the city where they can be ridden — are now visible in Veo’s app. That app states that each ride costs a baseline of $1, plus 40 cents per minute for the duration of the ride.
Veo published more details on how the New Haven program works in this Friday blog post.
The rollout of the scooters comes roughly a month after the Board of Alders voted in April to approve a contract between the city and the the widespread e‑scooter company, which also operates scooter systems in L.A., D.C., and New York City, as well as in smaller cities like Hartford.
According to a presentation that Veo Director of Government Partnerships Jeff Hoover gave to a committee of alders in April, the scooters go a maximum of 15 miles per hour and they automatically slow to a stop on sidewalks.
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.
“We want New Haveners to be able to get to where they need to go and e‑scooters are another great option to help make that happen,” Mayor Justin Elicker told the Independent in an email statement.
The map of scooter locations, and where the scooters can be ridden, per Veo's app.
Scooters all over downtown, including at Chapel and Church ...
... outside of Shake Shack on Chapel ...
... outside City Hall ...
... and at Chapel and Temple.
Thomas Breen file photo