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Science of the City: Hyattsville’s micromobility: Caught among three earlier adopters

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Posted on: October 8, 2024

This is part of a “Science of the City” series on micromobility on the Route 1 Corridor.

By PAUL RUFFINS

A Capital Bikeshare e-bike outside of the West Hyattsville Metro station
Photo Credit: Paul Ruffins

Hyattsville prides itself on promoting alternative fuel vehicles. It started planning for bike-sharing in 2016 and has an electric police car, as well as the region’s first battery-powered trash truck. However, the city government has played almost no formal role in the hottest trend in micromobility: shared e-bikes and e-scooters accessed through cell phone apps.

Judging from conversations and discussions on local listservs, neighbors share three main concerns about these forms of micromobility. The first — people driving e-vehicles recklessly or on sidewalks — is universal, from New York to Tokyo. However, the problems of devices being abandoned in strange locations, such as the middle of the Northeast Branch Trail, as well as not being able to find an e-scooter or bike that works, seem to be more common in Hyattsville than in D.C. or other nearby suburbs.

I have used Lime, Bird, and Uber scooters in other cities and still am a member on those apps, but whenever I went to look for scooters in Hyattsville, there were none of those available,” said resident Chris L. on the HOPE (Hyattsville Organization for a Positive Environment) listserv. “I only ever see Veo scooters around Hyattsville.” He also wrote that when he picked up a scooter in another neighborhood, the Veo scooter geofenced me from parking in Hyattsville & Riverdale Park. I had to leave the scooter at the e-bike ‘parking lot’ on the trolley trail where it meets Albion [Road].”

 These issues — abandoned vehicles, intrusive geofencing, and difficulties finding a working device — probably occur because Hyattsville is sandwiched between the operating boundaries of three earlier adopters of micro transportation agreements: Washington, D.C., Montgomery County and a geographic partnership consisting of College Park, University Park and the University of Maryland (UMD). 

Here’s a little history: In 2008, the District made a deal with Clear Channel advertising,  which operates D.C. bus shelters, to create SmartBikes. This became the first successful bike-sharing program in the U.S. Riders loved it, but it folded partly because the docking stations required expensive connections to underground utilities, and Clear Channel didn’t want to expand the program.

In 2010, the District, Arlington and a private contractor formed a joint venture that used cheaper, solar-powered docking stations, creating Capital Bikeshare (CaBi), which successfully expanded to 700 stations and approximately 7,000 bikes across eight local jurisdictions.

In 2013, College Park and UMD wanted to become part of CaBi but couldn’t because Prince George’s County hadn’t joined yet. So, in 2016, they contracted with mBike, which used a system of U-locks, smartphones, GPS and much simpler docks. In 2017, mBike expanded to University Park and promoted the dockless revolution by letting riders use any bike rack rather than only mBike racks. At the time, UMD Bicycle Coordinator Aaron Goldbeck stated in a press release, “We are very excited about the growth and success of the system.” 

However, two developments rapidly made mBikes obsolete. Between 2017 and 2019, CaBi expanded into Prince George’s County, and Bird, Spin, Lime, Bolt, Uber, Lyft and other firms introduced e-scooters and e-bikes into the DMV. In 2017, perhaps because of its success with bike sharing, D.C. agreed to experiment with eight different micromobility companies while the city worked out its rules. In 2019, Montgomery County signed a memorandum of understanding allowing three companies to operate in specific areas starting at the Takoma Park/D.C. border. The two different agreements included many provisions, such as age and speed restrictions and a phone number where residents could complain about vehicles blocking sidewalks.   

 However, recreating CaBi’s success was neither easy nor cheap. CaBi must constantly service its bikes and redistribute them. This becomes even more complicated with dockless e-devices. Each separate company needs gig workers to round up their products in many more locations than just a few docks, recharge them, and often redistribute them by morning. CaBi also used rugged, custom-designed bikes. In their race to get wheels on the street, most scooter companies deployed standard models, which quickly broke down under commercial use, sometimes creating a safety hazard. 

By 2023, D.C. had restricted itself to five companies: Lime, Lyft, Spin, Veo and CaBi. The College Park, University Park and UMD group chose Veo as its sole provider of e-scooters, primarily based on their durable designs. E-bikes are offered through Veo and CaBi. As a result, D.C., Montgomery County, the College Park-University Park-UMD group, and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission each have their own regulations for e-vehicles. By contrast, Prince George’s County’s website does not list any. Neither does Hyattsville’s. City Councilmember Edouard Haba (Ward 4) explained that, to his knowledge, the city only has an agreement with CaBi, which doesn’t operate e-scooters, and Public Information Officer Cindy Zork confirmed that this is accurate. Although Haba, too, has seen e-bikes and scooters left in various places around the city, he noted, “I haven’t received any complaints, and they seem to be being picked up within a day or so.”

Because all the different systems in this area have different equipment with varying battery capacities and geofenced boundaries, a potential rider can find the process confusing and unpredictable. A Veo scooter on UMD’s campus will not start between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., but if you carry it off campus, it will operate 24/7. If you want to take a long e-ride from College Park to Arlington, Va., through D.C., the safest bet is a CaBi e-bike because the system serves all three jurisdictions, and the batteries allegedly last up to 35 miles, which few scooters can match.

The problems Chris L. alluded to on the listserv are probably a result of several factors. Bird and Uber scooters aren’t operating in D.C. these days. So, he may occasionally see someone riding one of these companies’ old scooters, but now those scooters are probably privately owned and won’t show up in these companies’ apps. Parts of Hyattsville are also in a coverage gap in at least one company’s network. When asked about taking a trip through Hyattsville going from D.C. to College Park, Jeremy, a Veo customer support advisor, responded this way: “Please be aware that both markets have their own geofence where the users are allowed to ride; if they leave the geofence, then the ride will be stopped, and they are unable to end the ride, so the best thing we recommend is kindly pre-plan your route before starting the ride so you will not face any issue in the middle of the ride.”

Sounds like good advice. 

 

Paul Ruffins is a citizen scientist and a professor of curiosity. 

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