Aug 18, 2021 3 min read

Have you been to downtown Pittsburgh lately?

For those who have ventured anywhere near the Golden Triangle, Point State Park or the Cultural District, chances are the latest fad to get around the city was apparent. Chances are also pretty good that you’ve also been buzzed by, almost run into or stumbled over these new additions, too.

They’re a new crop of electric scooters – think skateboard with a long handle to hold onto – that showed up downtown over the summer as part of a partnership aimed at making transportation in the city easier and cheaper for those without a car. The stated goal is to have up to 1,000 of the orange scooters stationed around the city in a few months.

That all sounds great until you put the scooters into the hands of actual people.

First of all, they start the day in corrals located around the city. The owner, a company named Spin, collects them from around town and charges them each night. Users are supposed to return them to one of the corrals or designated areas. Instead, you see them strewn all over the place parked in the bike lanes and laying on sidewalks.

In regards to bike lanes – don’t get me started – the leaders of this program say the scooters are only permitted on Pittsburgh streets with speed limits less than 25 mph and in bike lanes. While I have seen the occasional responsible rider toddling down the street in a bike lane, which sounds like the safest option to me. I’d say 90% of the riders zip around on them right on the sidewalk weaving in and around pedestrians. The vast majority of people I see using them are under age 30 – most under 25 – who don’t seem to be going to or from work but rather just goofing around with their friends.

It’s all great fun, a wonderful idea and a creative and somewhat affordable way to get around – the cost is $1 to start and 39 cents per minute. They’ve already had some accidents including one pre-teen who used a debit card to try it – users are supposed to be over age 18.

Many cities and college campuses have had scooters for several years with varying results. I first tried riding one in Austin, Texas, and used it to zip around the city sightseeing – at a slow pace!

We just visited Nashville and hopped on one for a quick ride to save some walking in 94-degree heat. We saw younger kids riding two at a time but quickly realized we were not coordinated enough to do that and way over whatever weight limit the poor scooter’s motor could tote.

Pittsburgh’s scooter experiment has just begun but some cities have already yanked them off the streets after too many injuries and too much speeding and horseplay. Just like those bike lanes… they’ll only be useable on the somewhat rare days when there’s neither rain nor snow in the Steel City.

Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.