Scooters are here to stay in Nashville. We have to make it work. | Opinion

Like it or not, dockless e-scooters, and future such technology, are here to stay for the long-term.

William Barbour, Erin Hafkenschiel, Craig Philip, Leigh Shoup and Dan Work
Guest columnists
  • This piece was the joint effort of members of Vanderbilt University staff, student body and faculty.

Technology-enabled disrupters have descended on Nashville.

From Uber to Airbnb to Bird, our students are some of the earliest adopters. These technologies have had a positive impact on the lives of our students, faculty and their families.  

Now e-scooters are sparking heated debate here in Nashville. While it is easy to have a knee-jerk negative reaction to these change agents – and we agree more can be done on enforcing safety measures – we must acknowledge that disruption can bring about positive change. 

E-scooters represent an evolving type of micromobility – shared fleets of small, fully or partially human-powered vehicles. With the introduction of e-scooters in 2018, the number of micromobility trips in the U.S. more than doubled, growing from 35 million in 2017 to 84 million in 2018. In Nashville, around 500,000 scooter rides were taken just this past winter with only two scooter providers, the city’s data show. One in six of those rides occurred around Vanderbilt’s campus, so the university is acutely aware of the demand for these new options.

Not just a fad

Five scooter companies have sent a joint proposal to Mayor David Briley on improving scooter operations in Nashville, recommending advocacy for bike lanes, free helmets at community centers and limits on scooter fleets. Tuesday, June 18, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn.

Whether we like it or not, micromobility is here to stay. E-scooters were here first, but e-bikes, the Bird Cruiser and Gotcha Trike are not far behind. We must adapt accordingly.

Micromobility promises to reduce car trips, parking and congestion. This will make our city safer and more livable. In fact, we need micromobility to work.

For short, one-two mile trips, scooters are more efficient than a car and faster than walking. Even if you never ride one, every person on a scooter is one less car ahead of you. 

In light of Mayor David Briley's announcement last Friday to terminate the existing scooter program, the Metro Council should move quickly to create a new scooter pilot program that limits the number of providers, caps the total number of scooters, considers restricting usage by time and geography, and lowering speed limits. Riders cannot carelessly leave scooters on the sidewalk obstructing paths of pedestrians and blocking storefronts. The companies must educate riders and fine those who break the rules.

Trust the data

The first iteration of micromobility was docked bikeshare (B-Cycle here in Nashville).  Soon after, cheaper sensors and smartphones allowed for “dockless bikes.” Here at Vanderbilt a group of students collaborated with the administration to bring ofo dockless bikes to campus. It was just 18 short months ago when 120 yellow bikes arrived and made 60,000 trips around campus during April 2018.

Was this rollout seamless? No, but the university learned key lessons, and data and analytics from the experiment have informed future infrastructure decisions. Two planned primary greenways through campus were rerouted and refined in the FutureVU land-use plan. Data also supported the designation of 20 bike parking areas on campus, which transitioned to e-scooter parking when they arrived 10 months ago.

Micromobility prompts infrastructure changes

Vanderbilt is a microcosm of what is possible.  We are making the West End neighborhood more pedestrian-friendly, have begun work on the 24th Avenue greenway and will construct a three-mile loop that circles the perimeter of campus, among other future improvements.  These multimillion dollar investments will make our campus safer, more connected, more sustainable and more accessible to all.

Nashville is not friendly to pedestrians or micromobility users. We must reject this status quo. Metro’s WalknBike Priority Bikeway Network identifies 91 miles of low-stress bike and scooter facilities. At $5 million per year, the same funding level as 2018, the entire network would be complete in eight years and could be partially funded by fees from the micromobility providers.

Separating bikes and scooters into their own lane increases safety and decreases the number of conflicts that occur on the road. This investment and the reallocation of road space is justified by safety improvements for all road users and the hundreds of thousands of scooter trips.

Micromobility options, while not always seamless, have proven their value to Vanderbilt. Our students have come to rely on micromobility options to get around campus, and we are hopeful that these options will still be available when our students return in August.

This piece was the joint effort of Vanderbilt University’s William Barbour, a PhD student in civil engineering; Erin Hafkenschiel, executive director for mobility; Craig Philip, director of the Vanderbilt Center for Transportation Research; Leigh Shoup, Division of Administration chief of staff; and Dan Work, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering.