NEW ORLEANS - Electric scooter-sharing is popping up in cities all over the United States, and now city officials here are trying to figure out if the Crescent City should participate.
Between pedicab rides, carriage rides, and other rides there are a lot of ways to get around town.
"We have guys who skate to work," said Tim Eskew.
However, something new could be scootin' down streets and some are conflicted.
"They totally seem fun!" said Patricia Guevara. "They totally seem awesome because a lot of people around here don't have vehicles so yes, it can be really, really beneficial to those people. I guess I am a little nervous because it's so accessible for people who drink."
When Eskew was asked if he'd ride one he responded, "right into the river."
"I've ridden the Blue Bikes and they're fine, they're kind of heavy," he said. "But I don't think I'd rent an electric scooter. The question is, are we going to give free rent to all the scooters like we are the bikes? Are we going to leave them all over the place and make a mess on the sidewalks?"
Two companies, Bird and Lime, are hoping New Orleans will be the next stop to rent their electric scooters. However, before that becomes a reality, the city says there'll be at least a six-month trial period to make sure it's a good fit.
"So our focus with this is that these are operating in a safe way," said Andrew Sullivan, chief-of-staff for District C Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer. He also chairs the council's Transportation Committee. "That they wont become a public nuisance like they've become in other cities and to make sure the companies understand there'll be strict rules governing here."
Like Blue Bikes, you'd rent the scooters through an App. Sullivan though says rules will be regulated including when they can be ridden, where and what to do with them when done (because unlike Blue Bikes, there are no docking stations for the scooters).
"So these are only going to be operated from dawn to dusk," he said. "They can only be operated in bike lanes, if you ride them on the sidewalk they'll be ticketed by the NOPD. One of the biggest issues other cities have found also is they are strewn everywhere. If you use them they have to be parked at a bike rack."
Not only that, Sullivan says because the French Quarter is already congested with foot and other kinds of traffic, that area will be off-limits to the scooters. The boundaries are between North Rampart, Canal, Decatur, and Esplanade.
"We know it's going to be a popular place to try and ride these," Sullivan said. "When you consider all modes of transportation and millions of tourists every single year, we just don't think that it's a smart thing with this program to start off with this kind of riding there."
There's no word on when the trial will start, because Sullivan says they want to make sure the scooter rentals are done right. It was mentioned though data will be collected during the trial period and after three-months the city will look over it to see how it's going.
"To say this is where people are riding them, these are the incidents that we've had, these are how many parking tickets that we've had," said Sullivan. "And after that three months we could find that this is a great service and we want to continue, but there's also a chance that with all the issues these scooters aren't worth it."
And if the trial ends and it doesn't work, they say, they'll tell the companies to let the good times roll somewhere else.
"If this works out it can make life better for a lot of people in the city," said Sullivan. "But we want to make sure that this is about our citizens first that this isn't about the companies being able to make some money off of the city. We want to make sure citizens are served by whatever opportunities that we are providing them and if citizens aren't served by it we're not going to continue."
Currently the matter of these electric scooter rentals is being discussed by the City's Transportation Committee. Their next meeting is Tuesday afternoon (2pm) and it's open to the public. In fact, they're encouraging the public to come and share their thoughts on the program.