FIRST LOOK/spokane rising
spokanerising
by Anthony Gill
After Pilot Success, City Should Allow Bikeshare to Continue I’ll admit, it’s easy to take one look at the bright green bikes and scooters currently dotted across our city and scoff at the idea that they could ever be a legitimate transportation solution. Between their garish color, tech-forward interface, and occasionally-haphazard on-sidewalk parking layout, residents could probably be forgiven for wondering if they are just another passing fad. But I’m here to tell you, the bikes and scooters, operated by Lime as part of a twomonth pilot in advance of a potential permanent program next year, are useful, necessary and fun. And Spokanites are using them at a breathtaking rate. Within the first two weeks of service, the 100 pedal bikes, 100 electric bikes and 100 electric scooters had logged an impressive 15,000 rides across 1,700 miles. In other words, each scooter or bike saw about four rides per day. When Seattle first launched its similar pilot in summer 2017, it saw about 2.25 rides per bike per day, according to the transit wonks at The Urbanist. 30
spokanecda.com / NOVEMBER 2018
Those are impressive utilization numbers for a city our size, and it’s easy to see the appeal. First, a bike or a scooter can provide a happy medium between transportation options. Many trips, particularly around the core of Spokane, can be too far to walk comfortably, but don’t seem practical or sustainable in a car (considering the carbon emissions and time spent parking) or a bus (considering the time spent waiting for the bus). If an inexpensive bike ride can cut a twenty minute walk from Browne’s Addition to the Convention Center to a five minute ride, we all win. Second, these tools can provide valuable “firstand last-mile” connections to Spokane Transit routes, particularly along the Central City Line and other areas set soon for bus improvements. Instead of driving to a park-and-ride, you might hop on an e-bike directly to a transit stop. And of course, they’re just plain fun—particularly the scooters, which Seattle, by contrast, does not allow. Yes, we’ll have to work with operators to ensure effective and equitable rebalancing of bike/ scooter locations, reduce sidewalk blockages and manage public safety. But given its success and even popularity, after the conclusion of the pilot, the City should absolutely allow these shared mobility options on a permanent basis. Ideally, to allow for future innovation, we should be as mode-agnostic as possible, but bikes, e-bikes and scooters should all be allowed. Enforcement of the helmet law should be eased to reduce unnecessary barriers to entry (especially considering that not many people own helmets, but not bikes). And additional entrants, such as Bird (scooters), Jump (bikes) and Motivate (bikes) should be allowed to compete with Lime. Ultimately, bikeshare or scooter-share will not be for everyone. But if it makes enough of a difference for enough people, and makes enough trips just a little bit easier, it will have been worthwhile. Anthony Gill is an economic development professional and the founder of Spokane Rising, an urbanist blog focused on ways to make our city a better place to live.