Despite adding e-bikes around town to promote micro-mobility and provide another option for transportation, e-scooters still appear to be the more popular choice.
Jeffrey Jackson, transportation demand manager for the City of Bloomington, said data from Bird showed that only 7 percent of trips taken in Bloomington are from their e-bikes. The City’s licensing agreement with Bird, Lime and Veo was updated last year to require that 25 percent of their fleet consist of e-bikes. Data from Lime will become available in September, but Jackson said it has been difficult to get hard data from these companies.
“I would like to see an increased ratio of e-bikes to e-scooters, just because I think e-bikes have a larger audience of potential users,” he said. “But I really don't know exactly how many people use one over the other.”
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The City makes 15 cents per trip from e-bikes and 10 cents per trip from e-scooters, Jackson said. In the last year, the City has made about $72,000 in licensing fees from Lime, Bird and Veo; this includes trip charges from both e-bikes and e-scooters, as well as a $10,000 flat licensing fee for each vendor. The City has also collected $16,000 in e-scooter and e-bike parking violations.
“In 2023, we installed corrals around the downtown area; e-bikes and e-scooters are required to park in those corrals to reduce sidewalk litter,” he said. “If our parking enforcement people find that there are e-bike or e-scooters not parked in those corrals in that area, then they're cited and they [the last user] have to pay a $30 infraction fee.”
The City first introduced e-scooters to town in 2018. Yet Jackson thought it was important to make e-bikes available to appeal to wider audience. He also said it’s safer and more convenient and sustainable to ride a bike, especially when there is a basket built in to carry things.
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“There’s a perception that they (scooters) seem to be less stable,” Jackson said. “They have a bad rap as well in terms of reputation because their accidents are always highlighted.”
It is unclear how many e-scooters and Bird e-bikes there are in town. Fifty Lime bikes are available for use.