Electric Scooters

     In a previous blog I wrote about electric scooters on the UT campus.  This is an update to that blog. In December 2018 and January 2019 there 590,569 scooter trips in Austin covering 568,000 miles.  During those two months there were 71 reported injuries.

     After on semester of student electric scooter use on the UT campus, the powers to be had had enough and set new rules for the scooter and their riders.  With the new rules and fines, the ridership of electric scooters on campus has dropped 90%.  The difference is like night and day, I rarely see anyone riding a scooter as I walk across campus.  Before the new rules went into effect, one could park a scooter anywhere.  Where ever your trip ended you could just park the scooter.  With the new rules, scooters have to be parked at a bike rack or one of 10 parking spots UT has allocated  for the scooters.  If they are not parked in those areas the University will impound the scooter and charge the scooter company $150 to get the scooter back.  Since the scooter company already has  the last rider's credit card number, the $150 impound fee is passed on to the last student rider of the scooter.   In one months time, the University has generated $60,000 from this one rule. That's a lot of scooters parked illegally.  But the main reason ridership has decreased 90% is because now the scooters top speed is governed to 8 MPH where as before the scooters would travel 18 MPH and up to 30 MPH downhill.  Students can walk 8 MPH so along with the parking restrictions and speed limits no one is using those pesky scooters.    The University has said that if compliance to the new rules gets out of hand, a complete banning of electric scooters on campus is not out of the question .



Look Where You're Going 10/12/18

  I'm on the campus of the University of Texas a lot.  During my visits to the University, walking campus can be like playing Dodge Ball navigating  between the 54,000 students and 23,000 support personal on campus every day.  About every fourth person you meet has their eyes glued to the screen on their cell phone.  Most are not paying attention to their surroundings as they walk through the crowd.  Research has been done that states electronic device displays cause the same delayed reaction as being impaired by drugs or alcohol.  I've yet had one of those screen staring students run into me but when I see one coming I take a wide berth.  I'm more frightened of all those electric scooters that have become the rage on campus. The battery powered scooters  rage began in September and they are everywhere.  The scooters can travel up to 18 MPH even 30 MPH down hill  and it seems every student is trying to the break the speed limit.  The riders pay no attention to stop signs or any other traffic impediment.  Since they are electric, you can't hear them coming up from behind you.  What happens if you step to the left or right just as one of those 18 MPH scooters comes up from behind you?  Either your going to get  slammed, maybe even hurt pretty bad or the scooter rider is going to fly over the handle bars, probably landing on you.  The old saying "get out of the way or progress will run over"  is certainly true as one walks through the campus of the University of Texas