Burlington, Vermont sits atop a steep hill overlooking the sparkling deep blue water of Lake Champlain and the majestic Appalachian Mountains. While the view is spectacular, the hill’s location presents somewhat of a challenge to commuters and pedestrians trying to navigate the city. Many commuters drive up the hill rather than walk or bike, which contributes to the global trend of rising greenhouse gas emissions. The Department of Public Works is working to address this issue and reduce the number of vehicles on the road by building a proposal for a 2019 electric bicycle and scooter share that will add to the growing diversity of transportation options for Burlingtonians.

Sunny morning during Burlington rush hour. (photo credit: Isabel Lisle)

Today there is a distinct increase in the number of commuters using alternative forms of transportation in Vermont, with these trends spreading rapidly throughout the state. There are now more than 1,000 trips a day via Uber and Lyft in Burlington, and a successful carsharing enterprise that operates locally. CATMA, Chittenden Area Transportation Management System, has reduced single use vehicles by 20% though education and access. However, vehicle trips continue to go up even with the city’s efforts to get them down. The proposed motorized bike and scooter program, funded by the company Gotcha, would add on to the fleet of existing Greenride Bikeshare bikes to continue to replace vehicle trips with more efficient hill conquering modes of transport.

Bob Dale, the local community manager for Greenride Bikeshare, is hoping for shared mobility with Gotcha. Greenride launched in April of 2018 with a mission to transform the Burlington region by providing a high quality affordable and convenient bikeshare system that would connect people to more places where they live, work, and play. Today, they have 587 active members with a total of 8,740 trips taken throughout the Chitteten area. Initially, they planned to introduce bikes in a three phase system that would take into consideration best practices related to bike station density, coverage area, and optimal bikes per station to ensure system reliability. About 25% of these bikes would be electrified pedal assist bikes. With increasing accessibility to e-bikes and Burlington’s topography, the next phase will now include a 100% electric fleet of 200 Gotcha bikes and 200 scooters around the city. The communities CATMA, UVM, Champlain College, and the CCRPC are collaborating to make this project a success.

Gotcha Bike boasts over 50 mobility systems across the U.S., offering an affordable and environmentally friendly mode of transportation for cities, businesses, residential properties, and universities. One electric bike replaces ⅛ of an electric car. Their lightweight and durable e-bikes are 100% electric with magnesium alloy wheels, automatic safety lights, a 350-watt motor, a carbon fiber belt drive, and a GPS enabled smart lock. Paired with a smartphone app, the GPS system allows users to locate and access the bike while encouraging them to begin and end rides at designated hub locations. The internal speed sensor assists bikers up the hill, going up to 20mph. Bike share users will be able to choose a one-time, monthly or annual membership ranging from a few dollars a day to $60-$100 a year to best suit their needs. The bikes are for short term or point to point use, with most rides lasting around 15-20 minutes and 1-3 miles. The success of the Greenride bikeshare program will hopefully ensure a smooth transition for the addition of an electrified fleet.

The introduction of e-scooters to the streets of Burlington is sparking controversy among residents. Similar to the e-bikes, the e-scooters allow users to unlock the scooter with the same app by scanning a QR code on the handlebars. Within seconds, the rider can push the throttle to start the electric motor and scoot up to 15 mph. Unlike other scooter programs, Gotcha scooters must be returned to designated geo-fenced locations around the city to ensure organization and predictability. The scooters will be available only in the warmer months, stored and charged overnight in units around the city. This will prevent the disorganized sprawling of lone scooters that other cities are struggling to manage.

During an open forum at Burlington city hall last Tuesday night, residents gave feedback surrounding the plans. The owner of the Local Motion Bike rental shop down by the waterfront feels that Gotcha will threaten the financial success of his business and create unwanted competition. If a scooter hub is located down by the waterfront, users may ride the scooters on the bike path. A representative from Gotcha responded to this concern by assuring that the pricing of the scooters is set up to encourage short rides between hub locations, instead of four to five hour rides along the bike path. A Geofence could be set up to prevent bikes from going on the causeway, and the city could position hubs in residential areas to encourage commuter only traffic.

Others are worried that Burlington lacks the infrastructure to support such a large fleet of electric bikes and scooters. There is currently no policy about where they will go legally, and a gap in the enforcement of certain safety issues like wearing helmets, going a safe speed limit, or disrupting walkers on the sidewalks. Gotcha’s goal is to work with the city to ensure a well thought out system before they launch the electric fleet. In fact, Bird Scooters asked Burlington for a trial run last year, and Burlington turned them down saying they wanted to wait. Even though they are now working with Gotcha, they are only signing a one year contract to figure out the kinks and compatibility of the program.  Luis Vivanco, UVM Professor of Anthropology, has written extensively about bikes globally. He warns that “the promise the company dangles out that they will share a small amount of their revenue to help pay for said infrastructure will take some time and conflict with resistance of businesses in the downtown core to give up any parking spaces to make space for bike and scooter lanes”. He expects conflict between road users and scooterers as people try to accommodate this new norm.

Another concerned community member mentioned that Gotcha is tapping into a tourist market by encouraging travellers to use the scooters once they are in the city, specifically by the waterfront. Normal bike rentals are down, with most trips taken from Church Street to the waterfront. If tourists have already driven to Burlington, is it worth it to give them a different option to go one more mile? Is it more sustainable to use the energy to create, distribute, and maintain these scooters, or have people use their own vehicles? The scooters themselves are often referred to as a micro-mobility solution, a ‘last mile’ solution to get people from their car to their final location, and thus more sustainable than a car. In bigger cities where Uber vehicles might be used instead of scooters, this argument makes sense. However, Luis Vivanco explains that in Burlington, “people pretty much simply walk that last mile, or hop on a bus,” so the idea of adding a carbon-generating device (from electrical charging) into the equation of micro-mobility, seems like more of an environmental burden than simply not having the scooters at all.

In general, Vivanco thinks that “adding E-bikes to our bikeshare is generally an excellent idea for Burlington, and locals will definitely use them.” He has not seen any reliable studies however, about the demand for scooters. “There is reliable data on bicycle demand (~65% of Americans would ride more if conditions were better). What I’ve seen companies say is that there’s a ton of demand for scooters, and they even claim that women in particular would love it so they can still wear high heels and dresses and get around. These claims are marketing exercises; as far as I’ve been able to tell so far, they aren’t based rigorous studies that policy should be made on the basis of”. Perhaps Burlington should offer a survey to residents to determine the likelihood and frequency of a scooter commute.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, some city residents are excited to have more shared mobility options that discourage the use of personally owned cars. One young man explained that his mother, who lives and works in Burlington, drives her car five minutes to work every day. Walking and biking to work proves too painful, but she is thrilled about the possibility of a scooter share to make her commute easy and car free.

The rapidly growing technological market is weaving itself into the fabric of sustainable transportation in cities all across the U.S. with varying results of success. A scooter war in San Fransisco meets wild popularity with tourists, while simultaneously creating unwanted stresses for the city and its residents. Much of the uproar however, has to do with these companies dockless systems, which Gotcha avoids altogether.  Either way, by this memorial day, electric bikes and scooters may speed their way onto the streets of Burlington, and either stir up trouble or motivate residents to trek up the hill.

Isabel Lisle, our spring 2019 Vermont Independent journalism intern, is a 3rd year University of Vermont student pursuing an undergraduate environmental studies degree. This is her second article in a four part series focusing on TRANSPORTATION in Vermont.