A new transportation trend is taking hold in Greensboro; shared electric scooters have arrived in the Gate City.
Currently, you'll see both Lime and Bird scooters in town. They move up to 15 miles per hour. Riders use an app to find and unlock them, and pay per minute of use. There's no docking station for the scooters, so they're left in all sorts of places. They arrived this summer as part of pilot programs in partnership with universities.
University of North Carolina at Greensboro student Kwei Hanson says he enjoys the scooters, but they might pose drawbacks down the road.
“It might start traffic, like a lot of people might get on them and people might be going fast and might start accidents or something," he says. "I could see that happening. But would I like it to become popular? Yes, but it might be dangerous.”
Hanson says he's never had so much fun going to class before and that curiosity about the scooters is widespread. "Everybody's getting on them. Some people never rode scooters before, but they end up managing to go around campus with it."
Senior Sloane Liddicoat says she hasn't used a scooter yet, but where she's seen them most is on social media. "I've seen a lot of people put pictures and stories of them riding them on Snapchat," she says.
MBA student Breyonna Horsley says she sees the scooters left everywhere, and she wants to try one. "I think it'll catch on," she says.
The scooters aren't confined to campus, though. Greensboro officials say there are no current regulations on them, but the city is looking into recommendations for future ordinances.