Limes and Birds

[DTowner]

I haven't seen any comments about the new electric scooters that launched last week in Tulsa.  From my office window, I have a good view of Williams Green and 3rd Street.  It's pretty fascinating to see how many are being used. It is also interesting that Tulsa was proactive in working with these companies to develop and enact an ordinance before they launched.  I rode these around downtown a couple of times now and it is really a fun, fast and convenient way to get about a relatively short distance.

[Townsend]

I work DT as well and see them in use often.

I've not had a reason to use one yet but I'm glad they are here and available.

[swake]

I was just downtown and there were a bunch of people on them near Guthrie Green. They looked like they were having fun.

[DTowner]

I suspect there will be swarms of them at First Friday Art Crawl tonight.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

I suspect there will be swarms of them at First Friday Art Crawl tonight.

Be interested to see if they are available for that. They've been popping up around the area here since May, and not all of the cities are receptive to them and here they drop them off by 6 AM and then pick them up at 8 PM.

From the local NPR station

https://kjzz.org/content/644863/scooter-wars-how-phoenix-area-cities-are-approaching-rental-scooters-bikes

[heironymouspasparagus]

Went downtown yesterday and today and saw lots of them riding around.   Almost parked to get one and ride around some on it.  Looks like fun.

[DTowner]

Be interested to see if they are available for that. They've been popping up around the area here since May, and not all of the cities are receptive to them and here they drop them off by 6 AM and then pick them up at 8 PM.

From the local NPR station

https://kjzz.org/content/644863/scooter-wars-how-phoenix-area-cities-are-approaching-rental-scooters-bikes

I had not seen any in Tulsa until last Friday.  It was my understanding Tulsa reached out to the companies and asked them to not start here until the city could work out the new ordinance.  The ordinance passed the council last Wednesday and Lime launched Friday morning.

There have been a lot of issues in other cities, primarily because no rules were in place beforehand, people leaving them in the middle of sidewalks, blocking traffic, etc., that created a backlash.  Back in August, OKC ordered the companies to pick up all their scooters or they would be impounded because the city attorney concluded they had no right to be parked on sidewalks.  OSU kicked them off campus as well.  I'm not sure if OKC or OSU have worked out their issues.  Seems short-sited to block them.

It will be interesting to see how the scooters affect the bike share program.  During the lunch hour today, I saw 40+ scooters go down 3rd street, but not one This Machine bike.

[TheArtist]

Some friends were at First Friday and I had someone working at the shop so I snuck out and grabbed a lime for the first time.  Was fun!  Downloaded the app, put some money on it, scanned the lime, a little awkward start but quickly got on my way to the Guthrie Green from Decopolis!  52 year old, silver haired me, wearing my Mickey Mouse jacket and zipping around downtown on a green scooter!  Was a blast! Oh, one note, don't wait till your headed downhill towards a stop before you realize you didn't pay attention to how to stop or slow the thing down.  

[SXSW]

I think these scooters solve some of the issues we've had with the different downtown districts not being connected to each other.  I was downtown (before the scooters) having a drink at Open Container and then going to dinner at Amelia's.  A scooter ride would be preferred over that walk across the bridges, and vice versa.  Same goes from events at the BOK Center and then getting over to Brady and Blue Dome.

[carltonplace]

I've seen people riding them from Downtown to The Gathering Place.
It seems like 80% of the riders are kids who are just riding them for fun rather than getting place to place. I see kids riding them up and down my street as fast as they can. I'm happy we have them though - it does make our different districts much easier to access and hopefully it will help alleviate our perceived parking problem downtown.

[rebound]

Last week I dropped my car off on South Peoria to get a tire fixed.   I assumed it would only be 30 minutes or so, but the back up was going to be closer to 1.5 hours.   So, with laptop bag strapped across my shoulder, I grabbed a Lime scooter and headed to the Starbucks about a mile up the road.  The scooter was a blast, and easy to use.  I decided to stay on the sidewalk rather than brave South Peoria, and other than one area of construction I didn't have any issues.   Going back, I decided to go a block East and take a back street.  Much easier, and was able to go full-throttle the whole way.   Overall a fun experience, and I will definitely use a scooter again.  (and, just as fun,  the wife is jealous because she hasn't ridden one yet...)

[carltonplace]

Since I posted this I've met two people that are using them for primary transportation as they live close to DT and work in DT.

[patric]

"This Machine" broke.

KOTV: Bike-sharing company This Machine says it's closing up shop in Tulsa and Broken Arrow.
The group posted on social media that it wasn't able to find a sustainable solution to keep running and decided to end operations.
It launched the bike-sharing operation in 2017 and had over 200 bikes and 45 stations available for short-term renting.

[shavethewhales]

That's unfortunate. Seemed like a nice idea and a well meaning group behind it, but the limes are a bit handier and more fun.