In July 2021, the City of Pittsburgh launched a 2-year Shared E-Scooter pilot as part of the MovePGH program. Initiated through an RFP by the city, MovePGH and the scooter pilot would bring new sustainable mobility services to Pittsburgh residents and visitors at no cost to the city. Because low-speed electric scooters were not recognized in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at the time, temporary state authorization was granted in 2021. This authorization expired in July 2023 and the shared e-scooter program, at which time the service was abruptly halted to residents and visitors, many of whom relied on the service. For those of us who represent Pittsburgh’s Northside neighborhoods, these neighborhoods lost the only micro-mobility option that has ever come into our predominantly Black, low-income, and topographically difficult to access neighborhoods – neighborhoods that are already disappointingly underserved by our public transit options. Additionally, the abrupt halt cost 40 people their jobs.
The impacts of the e-scooter program were measurably positive in multiple respects, which have been well documented in the E-Scooter Pilot Report submitted to the Transportation Committee of the Pennsylvania Senate in May 2023. Some key highlights include:
- During the 2-year pilot, more than 212,000 people signed up to use the service in Pittsburgh, with the system seeing an average of 13,000 unique riders.
- In total more than 1m trips were taken covering over 1.5m miles. Survey data collected in Pittsburgh shows that 33% of these scooter trips are replacing a car trip, equating to 330,000 car trips.
- E-scooters are serving real transportation needs with nearly half of users report using the scooters for commuting
- The E-scooter program offered economic benefit to Pittsburgh with 535 new jobs (Full Time Equivalent) being created at an average hourly wage of $19.62, which contributed 1.68m in wages to the Pittsburgh economy. Additionally, 42% of riders report using the e-scooters for shopping, dining out, or essential errands.
- While the program did receive complaints, they remained relatively low at a rate of 4 per 1000 trips - and more importantly - trended downward over time.
- The e-scooter service provided discounted rates for low-income users as well as automatically applied discounts to trips originating in historically underserved parts of the city. 7.3% of trips (70k total) originated in these areas.
Based on the results of the pilot program and a continued need to provide equitable and low-carbon transportation options for city residents, we will be introducing legislation to allow municipalities to voluntarily authorize shared e-scooter programs if they so choose. This new legislation will build on the success of the current program while introducing new mechanisms allowing for easier reporting of violations, as well as stronger penalties for non-compliance against both riders and operators. This legislation has been developed with significant input from stakeholders at every level to address concerns raised and to make the experience of operating e-scooters better for users, residents, and governments alike.
Please join us in co-sponsoring this legislation to bring Pennsylvania in line with so many other states who already provide this micro-mobility option widely.
Statutes/Laws affected: Printer's No. 2954: 75-35
Printer's No. 3729: 75-35