Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Scooters

Here’s the Most Compelling Evidence for E-Scooters Yet

Scooters are apparently winning the race to the future of mini-transportation.

New data from Charlotte — which currently has Lime and Bird scooters and several dockless bike companies operating at the same time — shows that the scooters are much more popular. In July, residents took 100,273 trips on e-scooters, compared to 27,453 trips on bikes, the city government reports.

And even more telling: Each e-scooter was rented an average of four times a day compared to .6 rides per day for the dockless bikes, which has roughly double the fleet size.

Also surprising: people are taking the scooters on longer trips than the bikes, with an average e-scooter trip of 1.4 miles vs. 0.74 miles for the bikes, Charlotte's data shows.

E-scooters are "winning the battle" for riders in the city, The Virginian-Pilot concluded.

Charlotte's results are certainly not definitive, nor do they predict the demise of bike share in favor of e-scooters. But the numbers do offer an excellent window into consumer preference. Charlotte is one of the few cities that has both dockless bikes and dockless e-scooters and the city has been running a pilot with both that requires the companies to turn over ridership data — something we lack almost everywhere else. (Bird announceda new, more generous data policy on Wednesday.)

Many cities are still working out many issues related to scooters — clutter and riding on the sidewalk are among the chief concerns, prompting some governments to boot the scooters entirely — but local leaders, seeing their constituents taking a shine to motorized two-wheel transportation, are beginning to talk about scooter concerns as surmountable.

"There is no reason why my community shouldn't be on the cutting edge of this technology," New York City Council Member Robert Cornegy told my StreetsblogNYC colleague Gersh Kuntzman at a Bird event in largely African-American Bedford-Stuyvesant on Thursday.

New York City Council Member Robert Cornegy test drove a Bird scooter in New York on Thursday. Photo: Gersh Kuntzman
New York City Council Member Robert Cornegy test drove a Bird scooter in New York on Thursday. Photo: Gersh Kuntzman
false

Two members of the New York City Council are writing a bill that would legalize e-scooters, plotting a strategy unlike other cities, where companies like Lime and Bird just showed up en masse.

Milwaukee, where Bird had some initialtroubles, is talking about the company as a partner, not merely a partner-in-crime. The same is true for Bird and Lime scootersin Columbus, Ohio.

The boom in e-scooter popularity may explain why Lime Bike Chief Programs Officer Scott Kubly recently told Streetsblogthat scooters are much more likely to represent the future of transportation than bikes.

The evidence from Charlotte suggests he's right.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Off the Waterfront: Bronx Part of ‘Harlem River Greenway’ Will Be Bike Lanes on Street

The protected bike lanes look great, but it's a far far cry from the waterfront access Adams promised.

March 26, 2025

CAPITOL DISPATCH: Albany Has No Plan, the Feds are Fuming and Transit Riders Are Facing a True ‘Shithole’ If MTA Cash Isn’t Raised

The halls of the state capitol were filled with dread on Tuesday as neither Gov. Hochul nor legislative leaders have a plan to fill the yawning funding gap in the MTA's renovation and expansion plan — and the federal government is laughing on the sidelines.

March 26, 2025

NJ Still Backing Turnpike Widening Despite Congestion Pricing Success and Local Opposition

Congestion pricing is reducing traffic between New Jersey and New York — but Phil Murphy's $11-billion Turnpike widening would increase it.

March 26, 2025

Bike NY is Seeking to Build the Perfect E-Bike Subsidy Program for NYC

The bike advocacy group wants to make sure e-bikes are being incentivized in the very places where they are so needed.

March 25, 2025
See all posts