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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 2/16/2021 - Memorandum From Amanda Mansfield Re: E-Scooter Share Program Review And Future E-Scooter/Bike Share Program ProposalFC Moves 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 970.224.6058 970.221.6239 - fax fcgov.com/transportation Planning, Development & Transportation MEMORANDUM DATE: February 9, 2021 TO: Mayor Troxell and City Councilmembers THRU: Darin Atteberry, City Manager Kelly DiMartino, Deputy City Manager Caryn Champine, PDT Director Dean Klingner, PDT Deputy Director Aaron Iverson, FC Moves, Interim Senior Manager FROM: Amanda Mansfield, FC Moves, Transportation Planner RE: E-Scooter Share Program Review & Future E-Scooter/Bike Share Program Proposal Bottom Line The purpose of this memo is to inform City Council on the electric scooter (e-scooter) share pilot program and upcoming changes to both e-scooter share and bike share programs moving forward. Due to impacts from COVID-19 related shutdowns, the City and CSU extended the pilot program through March 31, 2021 for the purpose of gathering additional data and to allow the system to mature. The City in partnership with CSU will be selecting a vendor in March 2021, which will be for a combined bike share/e-scooter share program. E-Scooter Share Pilot Program Review The following are findings and observations from the e-scooter pilot: In 2019, prior to program launch, Council adopted updates to the Traffic and City Code to regulate where e-scooters could be ridden and parked and established an encroachment permit requirement to protect against vendors operating without permission. The City started the pilot e-scooter share program in October 2019, with Bird as the sole vendor. The system launched with roughly 400 stations and over 250 e-scooters, mostly on CSU campus and in downtown Fort Collins, and ultimately expanded to 500 e-scooters at its high point in November 2019. Since launch, there have been 79,500 total rides and 16,200 unique riders, peaking at just under 22,000 rides during the month of November 2019. The system shutdown from March 2020 to July 2020 due to COVID-19. Restarting in July, ridership has been between 1,500 and 6,000 rides per month, with continued impacts from COVID-19, in particular fewer people in Old Town and on the CSU campus. Most rides during the pilot period were estimated by Bird to be in or near CSU (between 60% and 80%), with downtown ridership numbers estimated to account for approximately 20% of rides. Ridership downtown has been impacted by issues related to the accuracy of no-ride zones, limiting areas for e-scooters to ride in the Old Town area. Staff has identified this as a combination of issues with the geo-fence technology (virtual maps that create zones where the e-scooters can and cannot operate) and the e-scooters themselves. Newer generations of e-scooters, which are now being deployed, appear to have fewer accuracy problems. E-scooter parking was generally not an issue; City staff fielded roughly 25 complaints since October 2019. Common complaints beyond e-scooters being ridden into no-ride zones included e-scooters being parked incorrectly in the pedestrian zone of a sidewalk or on private property. time to complaints was typically 2 hours, which was in line with their contractual obligation. As of November 2020 (the latest available data) 5 crashes were reported related to the e-scooter program, none of which resulted in hospital treatments. The Transportation Board and the Bicycle Advisory Committee requested that Bird data be made available to the public, which has since s e-scooter web page. The Senior Advisory Board expressed concerns including, poor app experience (for less tech savvy people), arbitration rules, pre-loaded balance requirements to start a ride, and how user information is handled. Staff will be working through these issues with the new vendor and contract. E-Scooter Next Steps and Bike Share Relaunch In October 2020 the City, in partnership with CSU, released a request for proposals for a bike share vendor (Pace, our previous bike share vendor, went out of business in May 2020 due to compounding COVID impacts). This request included the option for vendors to propose a bike share program combined with e-scooter share. City and CSU staff have worked through the proposal process and will be selecting a vendor in March 2021. The combined program for bike/e-scooter share will include the following changes, based on lessons learned during the pilot and changes in the shared e-device market: The vendor will offer e-bikes and e-scooters under one program, accessed through the same app. E-bikes are a newly emerging (and popular) shared device that almost every bike-share vendor is now offering. The City will be working with the vendor to improve the riding experience in the Old Town area. This will include refined dismount zones, allowing improved riding where allowed (on the streets), and improved slow-down zones and notification to users when entering no-ride zones (like Old Town Square). Next generation e-scooters will be more responsive to stopping when entering no-ride zones. The City and CSU will explore expanding the hours of operation for e-scooters. Currently e-scooter share hours are 5AM 9PM (summer) and 5AM 7:30PM (winter). The Pace bike share program, during its lifetime, always operated 24/7. All the proposing vendors have suggested allowing operating all devices (bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters) 24/7. In markets where they are currently operating 24/7 there has been minimal to no negative safety impacts, according to the vendors and the cities we contacted as references. Additionally, it was noted that not allowing 24/7 access significantly cuts down on ridership potential reducing the ability to accommodate workers with non-traditional work schedules, which has equity implications. Enhancing the e-scooter and e-bike adaptive program to cater to the needs of and encourage ridership among those in our community who are differently abled. Lowering rider fees where possible to advance equity and increase ridership and incentivizing longer trips to encourage replacement of vehicle as opposed to walking or biking trips. Coordinating with Transfort to increase the number of trips that connect to or from public transportation to replace vehicle trips, and coordinating with the Transfort app. The combined shared e-device program will be a multi-year-contract, with options to renew. The contract will include options for the City and CSU to adjust the system and program as needed, including operating hours, number of deployed devices, station locations, responses to complaints or parking issues, refining no-ride zones, monitoring and responding to safety issues, and considering whether to permit e-scooters on Parks and Natural Area trails. City staff will provide an annual report to leadership and Council throughout the duration of the program contract. Next Steps City and CSU staff expect to finalize selection of an e-scooter/bike share vendor by the end of February/early March and to launch the program in April or May (depending on the contract negotiations and time needed for deployment). Please let us know if there are any concerns or questions about the e-scooter pilot program or the pending new combined system. The staff member to contact is Amanda Mansfield at amansfield@fcgov.com or 970-416-2040.