A Transportation Revolution Built To Last?

In early July, I rediscovered the wonders of riding a bike. For the first time in years, I felt the awe of my physical ability, the smooth weightlessness, and the mystical balance that a childhood in the hilly Bay Area discouraged. As I did not own a bike, my ride through Forest Park was possible because of Ofo, a bike sharing company that had just been introduced to St. Louis. Though I did not know it then, I was participating in the boom in alternative transportation that hit St. Louis last spring. On top of the bright yellow Ofo bikes, Lime Bike, the more familiar and just as unmistakably colorful bike share company, introduced their model in late April, and the Bird scooters followed a few months later in July. At the same time that changes seemed to usher in a new era of transportation in St. Louis, the fleet of yellow bikes that I so admired disappeared within three weeks time.

Cities across the country, from Santa Monica to Boston, have seen the mysterious rise and fall of dockless bikes and scooters. Their sudden appearance is almost magical. One day the idea of motorized scooters becoming popular is absolutely ridiculous, and the next it seems as if there was never a more natural image than a teenager vaping while zooming thirty miles per hour down the sidewalk. But this phenomena that has become so ingrained in urban culture so quickly and that is touted as a solution for all of our transportation woes deserves more critical thought. The rapid influx of bikes and scooters begs the question of whether the city was adequately prepared for this change to ensure that the new transportation technology is as safe, eco-friendly, and equitable as it has the potential to be.

St. Louis is hardly a city known for being bike-friendly; rather, the maze of highways are built only with a car in mind, making the city almost unnavigable without one. Road conditions are also highly variable, adding another layer of difficulty for those making their way without a car. And even though experts can find their way through bumpy streets without bike lanes, driving through traffic is a tall order for inexperienced riders. Without proper infrastructure, bikes and scooters can become public health hazards. Due to the lack of sufficient bike lanes, there are few designated spaces for bikes and scooters, meaning that riders risk collisions when they use bikes on major roadways. Being too slow for the speed of traffic and too small for drivers to see, electric scooters are forced onto sidewalks where they pose a threat to other pedestrians. The issue of helmets is also at hand: although St. Louis city requires all scooter riders and bike riders under eighteen to wear a helmet, the vast majority of riders do not, putting them at risk of head trauma and other injuries. For electric scooters, the more novel and attention grabbing transportation development, formal data on injuries has yet to be collected, but doctors around the country are raising awareness of the anecdotal increase in injuries that they see. In San Francisco, one of the cities most impacted by the rush of bike share and scooter startups, hospitals are gearing up to collect data in order to determine if there is a trend between the use of dockless bikes and scooters and injury rates. According to the New York Times, Dr. Chris Colwell, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital’s chief of emergency medicine said, “I’m quite confident that we were seeing five to 10 injuries from this a week, and I’m probably underestimating that…We saw one or zero a month before the increase in electric scooters.”

Research concerning the injury risk of dockless bikes and scooters is still ongoing, and it is also important to note that this new form of alternative transportation can have many health benefits as well. More readily accessible bikes can inspire more physical activity, replacing stationary car trips. In an ideal world, dockless bikes and scooters can play a role in taking cars off the road, thereby improving CO2 emission levels and air quality. At the St. Louis launch of Lime Bike and Ofo, Chris Taylor, head of north America for Ofo, praised the, “real, positive changes” the city was making by contracting these companies, such as, “reduced traffic, lower emissions, and improved public health.” However, environmental costs may prove to be more complex than Taylor suggests. As a recent Vox piece pointed out, “scooters are only as green as the electricity that charges them. If your city gets most of its power from a coal or natural gas-fired power plant, that means your scoot around the neighborhood has a positive carbon footprint.” St. Louis is a city that generates the majority of its electricity from coal, so our rides may not be as eco-friendly as they seem. Replacing one non-renewable mode of transportation with another is not as much of a radical transition as companies and city leaders would have it seem; rather, dockless bikes and scooters move to electrify transportation without the necessary infrastructure in our power grid to make them as eco-friendly as possible. On the other hand, scooters emit significantly less carbon dioxide emitting about 4 to 9 grams of CO2 per mile, while cars emit around 400 grams of CO2 per mile. Bikes and scooters can also encourage greater use of existing public transit by helping people navigate the “last mile,” or the crucial distance between one’s home or a central location to a bus stop or train station that often keeps people from using public transportation.

Another bold claim came from City of St. Louis mayor Lyda Krewson, who at the launch said, “By ensuring access to bikes across the city, we can improve transportation options for all St. Louisans and help bridge physical and social divides that have historically separated our neighborhoods.” Decades of residential segregation in St. Louis seems a tall task for 750 bikes to fix, and one wonders whether a larger public infrastructure project, like a finalized North-South Metro line or expanded bus system, would better bridge vast disparities in public transportation. That being said, city ordinance does require that 20% of bikes that a company puts in the city be dedicated to, “social equity and inclusion target neighborhoods” such as The Ville, Jeff-Vander-Lou, and other historically disadvantaged areas. Scooters and bikes are also very popular among low-income residents. As Vox notes, according to Populus, 72% of those who make under $25,000 and 75% of those who make between $25 – $50,000 have a positive perception of e-scooters specifically, and it is not hard to find a wide range of riders throughout the city.

Mobility may be essential to breaking the cycle of poverty, but permanent access to affordable transportation would be the most helpful to disadvantaged communities. And right now, bikes and scooters are far from permanent. The permit Ofo used did not obligate the company to stay for a predetermined amount time. Their sudden disappearance proves we have no guarantee of stability. Without set commitments to the city, it is unknown if bikes and scooters will stay if their company goes bankrupt, if city government passes more regulations on them, or if the vandalism that leaves bike frames gutted on street corners continues to increase. St. Louis citizens deserve more than uncertainty – if alternative, environmentally friendly, and affordable transportation is what people want, then it is time to give them something more substantial. Dockless bikes and scooters cannot be where the development of public transportation stops, and they cannot distract from a faulty system that reinforces historical segregation patterns and stops far short of connecting major areas of the city. We must have higher standards for our public transportation resources, coupled with the expectation that what is here is here to stay. A “transportation revolution” must be long lasting and built in conjunction with existing public infrastructure. Only time will tell if bikes and scooters fit the bill.

Sienna Ruiz ‘20 studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. She can be reached at sienna.ruiz@wustl.edu.