In just a few weeks, Syracuse has become the scooter capital of America. Sort of.
Syracuse was the second busiest city in the country last week for Veo, the company that owns and operates the city’s 500-vehicle fleet here. Veo operates in 40 cities in the United States including San Diego, Seattle, Chicago and parts of New York.
“Our fleet is one of the smaller ones,” said Paul Colabufo, operations manager for Veo in Syracuse. “[Veo’s] biggest fleet has 2,500 scooters out. We got more rides than them, not per scooter. Total. We got almost double the rides New York City got despite them having millions more people, a culture of not taking cars and 1,000 scooters.”
The scooters have proved wildly popular in Syracuse, especially on the North Side, where there’s been a boom in riders. Last week, the company averaged 1,400 rides per day on its scooters and bikes.
With that spike in ridership, however, comes complaints, confusion and more complaints.
Officials from City Hall and Veo met with Syracuse Common Councilors Tuesday morning to answer questions about the nascent program.
The scooters are unfamiliar to many, and started showing up all over the city in the last month. Riders book one using an app, ride it to their destination, then leave it. Those discarded scooters have been the cause of consternation for residents who think they’re abandoned or stolen. They’re sometimes ditched in the street or blocking a sidewalk, which is illegal.
Veo has gotten 280 complaints since the launch of the new fleet. That doesn’t include calls to city councilors, which councilors say are plentiful.
First District Councilor Jennifer Schultz, who called for Tuesday’s meeting, said she gets about four calls a week, and the scooters have typically been a top concern at neighborhood and community meetings.
Mostly, she said, people just don’t know enough about the program yet.
“It’s questions, questions, questions,” she said.
Schultz said many kids in her district have figured out how to pedal some of the bikes and scooters without paying to use them. She suggested Veo find a way to lock the pedals when the vehicles aren’t in use. Colabufo said he’s recommended that to the company.
The complaints to Veo are overwhelmingly a result of misinformation, Colabufo said. The frequency of those complaints is decreasing as people learn more about the program.
Most people call to report an “abandoned” scooter near the side of the road or sidewalk. But those discarded scooters are right where they’re supposed to be: where the last person parked them. Most complaints are resolved the same day.
Veo has issued 150 violations for improper use or parking of the scooters. A first violation is a warning, followed by a $25 fine, a $50 fine and potential banishment from using the scooters.
Syracuse’s chief operating officer, Corey Driscoll Dunham, said the complaints from neighbors aren’t unique to Syracuse. The New York Times has written about how e-scooters change the streetscape and cause safety concerns.
“I will admit that one of the things that’s a work in progress is us working with Veo to get information out there,” she said.
The popularity in Syracuse is borne partly from necessity and a need for alternative transportation options. The average ride is 2.1 miles. The Salt City Market downtown is one of the most popular hubs for the vehicles.
In some cities, they’re mostly used for joy-riding. In Syracuse, however, Colabufo said numbers and locations suggest people are using them for commuting. Ridership is just as high on weekdays as it is on weekends. And the most popular routes are on the North Side, especially around the Butternut Street corridor.
On a rainy, stormy Monday this week, the company registered 700 rides. It wasn’t exactly joy-ride weather, Colabufo said.
“I would say pretty close to zero were people who said, ‘You know, I have a working car but I just want to take a scooter out in the thunder and the lightning and the rain,’ ” Colabufo said. “I think those are 700 rides of people who need the scooters to get around.”
