Pols rail against shared e-scooter program in Queens
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Queens elected officials voiced their opposition to a Department of Transportation program that brought e-scooters to their districts over the summer. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
Elected officials in Northeastern Queens railed against a relatively new city-backed program that brought shared electric scooters to their neighborhoods, many of which lack robust access to public transportation.
Gathering in Fresh Meadows, elected officials from the city and state spoke out against the Department of Transportation-endorsed e-scooter program, which they claimed had become a nuisance, placed in their district without their input or the input of local residents.
While the program first appeared in the area over the summer – and has been called a success by DOT – the officials feel that the agency has not been forthcoming about the program. They say DOT is also ignoring 311 complaints and calls to their office on the purported dangers of the scooters.
City Councilmember Jim Gennaro, who led the rally, said that the officials and DOT were in talks for a town hall meeting that was supposed to be held Monday night to discuss the scooters. DOT declined the invite.
“Today we were supposed to be having a town hall with DOT to talk about the e-scooter program and DOT, the government that we all pay to listen to us when we have valid concerns, decided that they don't want to play, they don't want to come, they don't want to talk about it,” Gennaro said outside his office on Monday. “They don't care, they don't want to know about it. This is a big problem.”
In June, DOT expanded the e-scooter program – operated by three private companies – from the Bronx to Queens, and received immediate pushback from locals and elected officials. Their main concerns centered around the operation of the potentially speedy two-wheeled electric devices, which users have left on lawns and sidewalks.
“The program…is kind of chaotic,” Gennaro said. “We have complaints all over our community.”
DOT has lauded the program, as have the three companies that facilitate the program.
As of last week, Lime, one of the three companies, said that over 132,000 rides had been made in Northeastern Queens.
“Queens riders have taken to e-scooters so quickly,” said the senior manager for Government Relations at Lime, Nicole Yearwood.
Earlier in September, Lime also announced further investment into the program. The company plans to spend $2.5 million annually on its Queens operations, as well hardware, technology and staffing, which includes a revamped “foot patrol team” which is supposed to pick up misplaced scooters.
However, the officials said they feel that Lime and the city are only telling half the story of the program, and ignoring the community's concerns.
“Any benefit to date that they may provide is more than overshadowed by the detrimental impacts of these vehicles,” said Gennaro.
While the officials said they have had calls to their offices reporting injuries related to the program, DOT has not reported any serious or major injuries.
Councilmember Sandra Ung, who spoke alongside Gennaro as well as Assemblymembers David Weprin and Sam Berger, said it's also about a “feeling of unsafe.”
“When you're walking and you feel something is swishing by you or coming at you,” she said.
Ung said that her district, which includes the entirety of the busy Downtown Flushing area, has already struggled with congested streets and sidewalks, and that the introduction of the scooters has only exacerbated those issues.
Last week, Ung introduced legislation that would prohibit the operation of the scooter system in Flushing.
Gennaro said the legislation would be harder to push in his district, since, despite concerns, it does not have the same congestion issues as Ung’s district.
Beyond any real or perceived dangers with the program, electeds said their opposition is rooted in what they say was a lack of transparency, since the program was not brought before them or the local community board before it made its way onto local streets.
“We found out about this program by seeing these scooters abandoned all over our residential neighborhoods,” said Weprin. “Nobody knows where they're supposed to be picked up. Who's being notified, who's regulating these scooters?”
Berger, who seemed slightly more keen on the potential of the program than his elected colleagues, said that his constituents have felt ignored.
“We might be able to find a place where it works, but community members are past that now, because they feel burned, they feel unheard,” he said.
Speaking to reporters, Berger argued that there are places an e-scooter program could work in Eastern Queens, including on Queens Boulevard, Jewel Avenue or other more commercial areas.
“It could work, but they didn’t come to the community or elected officials,” he said. “If a community doesn’t want something, why does the government have to push it on people?”
The Department of Transportation said that the program is coming back with positive results, mainly by filling in the gaps in public transportation.
“E-scooter share is just getting started in Eastern Queens, building upon the successful East Bronx program, and we’ve already seen 37,000 unique rider accounts take more than 290,000 trips since we launched in late June,” a DOT spokesperson said. “The average trip in Queens is just over 1 mile and the vast majority of trips start and end in the same neighborhood, illustrating that the scooters are fulfilling an important role in connecting residents to mass transit and other important local destinations.”
DOT also says it has met several times with elected officials and community leaders, holding 35 briefings before the program launched in Queens.
This story has been updated to reflect a statement from the Department of Transportation.
