Arian Horbovetz, the author of the Urban Phoenix blog, says cities across the country are trying to figure out how to safely and effectively work new forms of transportation, including electric scooters, into roadways that have been dominated by cars. PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH TRANSPORTATION | BY JEREMY MOULE
The scooters are coming, eventually To some of their harshest critics, electric scooters are nuisance death machines that send scores of people to the hospital and pile up in parks when people aren’t using them. They have a nasty reputation to shake, and the scorn directed at them could delay the launch of a scooter sharing system in Rochester. In May, City Council members approved an agreement with Zagster, the company that runs Rochester’s popular bike share program, to establish and run a similar system for e-scooters, electric motor-powered versions of the two-wheeled planks with handlebars that many of us had as kids. But the whole arrangement depends on a change to state law, which currently doesn’t allow for electric scooter use — or electricassist bike use, for that matter — on streets or sidewalks. The state Assembly and Senate passed legislation that would make the needed fixes, but Governor Andrew Cuomo hasn’t yet 6 CITY
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signed it. And nobody’s sure if he will. The lawmakers aren’t sure which way Cuomo is leaning, says Assembly member Harry Bronson, one of the legislation’s cosponsors. Representatives from the e-scooter industry have said they’re willing to work through changes if the governor has concerns or objections, Bronson says. In June, Crain’s New York Business reported on remarks the governor made about e-scooters and electric-assist bikes. The article quotes Cuomo as saying the legislation is “going to, I think, need more review and discussion.” Among the concerns he specified, according to Crain’s: riders using e-bikes on sidewalks and whether the legislation should require users to wear a helmet. Still, Rochester will likely see electric scooters on its streets at some point in the near future; whether it’s within the year or sometime over the next few years is the question. City