Update on Lincoln’s electric scooter pilot program

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Lincoln’s electric scooters take you from one point to the next. More than 85,000 rides have been taken over this past year or so, as the city prepares to wrap up its pilot program.

Every time somebody steps foot onto one of the scooters, it continues bringing money to the city, and over the past year during this trial period, Lincoln Transportation and Utilities said that’s been nearly 12,000 dollars. LTU gets 15 cents per ride, and both of the program vendors, Bird and Spin paid permit fees to put their scooters on Lincoln streets.

LTU said the demand is there. Even though riders can’t travel with scooters near the Capitol building or on UNL’s campus, LTU said many riders are college-aged students, people living south of downtown or visitors in the Haymarket area.

Right now, LTU is focused on educating the public more on rider safety and operations over the final three months of the pilot program. Once it ends on December 31, 2021, LTU will release a final scooter report detailing travel patterns and rider behavior.

“It’s through there that we will put together some recommendations based on data we received. We would then bring that to city council, and it’s up to city council to decide the direction we’ll take with the scooters,” said Roberto Partida, Transportation Planner with LTU.

LTU told 10/11 that they’ve listened to feedback from the community since the program started and from that, has designated five specific parking areas for scooters in the area.

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