A total of 250 of the electric rental scooters have been placed on campus as part of a two-year research project into methods of personal transportation that are less expensive and environmentally damaging than owning a car. The study could help inform "micromobility" policies across the country.
"What the project is trying to do is compare these different options to identify which one is more beneficial to the environment and the society," said Mostafa Elseifi, the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering professor leading the research project with LSU. "Also, from an economic perspective, which one is more cost-effective."
Operated by e-scooter company Spin, the devices cost $1 to unlock plus 30 cents per minute of use, with daily and monthly programs available. They can reach a top speed of 15 mph unless in a designated slow or no-ride zone, which are viewable in the Spin app.
CONVENIENCE OR NUISANCE?
The scooters have been on campus for a few weeks, and they've drawn a wide range of reactions from students and faculty.
Some see the appeal of a way to get around without walking for miles — while still avoiding the ordeal of finding parking on campus.
"I think they could be beneficial for getting around campus because not everybody likes to walk everywhere," psychology major Sydnee Marshall said.
But others have found the scooters to be a nuisance. While Spin has designated zones for dropping off and picking up a scooter, sophomore social work student Tess Graves said she's seen them everywhere from parking spots for cars to inside classrooms.
"They get left all over the place in parking spots, in the grass, in dorm rooms and all over," Graves said. "It's such a big nuisance when going literally anywhere and since so many people can rent them now, I've seen groups of five or six people rent a scooter all at once and just drive around screaming and yelling both at night and during the day."
Jimmy Gilman, head of government partnerships at Spin, said the company will take action against non-compliant riders by issuing warnings or banning them from the app.
"Ultimately, we'll warn folks if they do park non-compliantly," he said. "We'll send a warning and then non-compliant users who have repeat offenses can either be suspended or banned from using the service, we want to make the service work for everyone and we want mobility to be for everyone."
Gilman said Spin met with the LSU Disability Advocacy Council before the project began to ensure it could be implemented on campus while remaining compliant with Americans with Disability Act guidelines.
"I think really the main point is about collaboration or communication," he said. "It's about understanding requests from students with injuries, students with disabilities or anyone in the LSU community with an injury or disability to make sure that we're responding to that in a timely manner."
BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS
As students zoom back and forth on campus, the company and LSU researchers are collecting data to to better understand how the scooters are used.
"Everything is anonymous and we don't have personal information but can just see general trip trends of number of trips, locations of trips, heat maps of where trips are starting and ending," he said. "All things that could inform powerful transportation decisions when it comes to research and the implementation of transportation systems on campuses and elsewhere."
One question is cost. Graves, who also serves as a resident assistant on campus, said she feels the e-scooters price out students who don't have disposable income.
"It just feels like trying to get money out of college students when we don't really have any money," she said. "It's supposed to be a hot commodity for people to try out until they realize it'll cost them a bunch of money to scoot around for like five minutes."
Freshman Quinn Boutchard had considered buying an e-scooter just to get around once he moves off campus next year.
"It could be super useful for students who live just off campus to get around," he said. "I have to live off campus next year and I've been thinking about it."
But Boutchard said he is a bit hesitant to purchase an e-scooter or ride the Spin e-scooters due to the benefits of walking as exercise and questions he has about the environmental impact of e-scooters.
"I prefer walking so I would probably just walk and I think we should encourage people to walk," he said. "I also don't know if they're eco-friendly and that's really important."
Elseifi said the reduction in vehicle emissions is a large part of the reason Spin scooters were brought to LSU.
"Scooters are growing tremendously throughout the nation and worldwide because they have tremendous benefit in terms of the environment by reducing vehicle emissions and the flexibility you get when you use a scooter," he said.
Now over a month into the program, Elseifi said he's excited about the arrival of e-scooters on campus and hopes that they can be the source of more research in the future.
"I think it's put us on the map on a very hot, emerging topic that will hopefully allow us to get more from the topic," he said. "The scooter companies we're collaborating with are very helpful and I think that if we do a good job we can attract more research funding in this area."
©2023 The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
