With the start of the new year, there were new additions to campus, and all of Columbus: the motorized scooters. Maybe you've ridden one, maybe you haven't, but either way, you have an opinion about the scooters. While the scooters can be used to get from one place to another, there are also many problems that have come from the scooters being in Columbus and on campus.
1. There are no rules about where they can be used
The scooters just appeared one day, and from that day on, no one really knew what do with them, other than ride them. But people park them in the middle of sidewalks and drive them on both the sidewalk and street without following rules in either spot.
2. People don't know how to ride them
I have watched multiple people try and ride two to a scooter. Others have not known how to get the scooter started, and once it gets going, don't know how to stop them. With a bike or a skateboard, the person has hopefully been riding it for a while or at least understands how to ride one, but that doesn't seem to be the case with the scooters.
3. There aren't any places that they're required to be
Even though there's an app where you can see where the scooters are, there's no guarantee that they will be located anywhere near you when you want to use one.
4. They're being destroyed
In recent weeks, people have started destroying the scooters in various manners. One of the ways is to just remove the QR code so the scooter can't be unlocked, more dramatically is just breaking the scooter itself. Either way, they are no longer able to be used and are just left sitting out.
5. Rules aren't being followed on the road or sidewalk
Vehicles like the scooters shouldn't be ridden on sidewalks, especially going top speeds. When people ride the scooters on the sidewalks, they seem to assume that they are always in the right, since they are going faster. Alternatively, when the scooters are ridden in the roads, people on scooters tend to not stop for lights and other road laws.
6. It's expensive to ride
The scooters are $1 to unlock, and then $0.15 for every minute they are used. That's a lot of money to be spent on just being able to get from one place to another, especially as a college student. There are better ways to spend your money, especially since the scooters don't save a ton of time getting between places.
7. Just because you can see the scooter doesn't mean you can ride it
The scooters automatically lock at 10 p.m. in order to keep people safe, but that also means that after 10, you have to walk no matter what. Also, people can keep the scooters on hold, therefore you can walk up to one during the day, and not be able to use it because someone else is, even though the scooter is just sitting there.
