New York City will run a pilot program to test electric-scooter share systems for at least a year in an 18-square-mile section of the East Bronx, transportation officials said Thursday.
”In a lot of ways it’s the perfect place to use scooters to improve transit equity,” said Paul Steely White, director of public affairs at Superpedestrian, a micro-mobility company that has applied to participate in the program scheduled to start in the spring.
Mr. White noted that the area, home to 570,000 people, is popular with many essential workers who struggle with some of the city’s longest commutes because of poor mass-transit connections.
City officials said they would evaluate how well scooters serve the area’s Black and Latino residents, who make up 80% of the population, as well as the area’s 25,000 New York City Housing Authority residents.
Electric-scooter companies often tout their vehicles’ ability to help people get to subway and bus lines that are more than a short walk away.
