E-scooter pilot launches, stirs up
Pelham parkway residents
BY ALIYA SCHNEIDER
The east Bronx e-scooter
pilot launched on Tuesday —
a month later than planned —
although a group of Pelham
Parkway residents aren’t
happy about the program
launching at all.
The program will bring up
to 3,000 scooters from Wakefi
eld to Pelham Bay in a fi rst
phase this year and up to
6,000 more from Parkchester
to Edgewater Park for
a second phase next year.
The neighborhoods will be
geo-fenced, fi rst restricting
the scooters to the phase
one area, and then to all the
neighborhoods included in
the approximately 17.7 square
mile zone.
On Tuesday, e-scooter
companies Lime, Bird and
Veo held a scooter sharing
launch event for the pilot at
the intersection of Bronxdale
Avenue and Bronx Part East.
The program, which is
overseen by the New York
City Department of Transportation
(DOT), is meant to help
reduce carbon emissions and
provide an affordable safe
transportation option. Data
will be collected throughout
the program to assess its effectiveness.
From Councilman Mark Gjonaj
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,22 AUG. 20-26, 2021 BTR
But the pilot isn’t being
warmly welcomed by everybody.
“They’re using us as
guinea pigs, testing this pilot
program, saying, let’s put this
here and see what happens,”
Roxanne Delgado, founder of
Friends of Pelham Parkway,
told the Bronx Times.
Delgado gathered with 12
other residents at Holland Avenue
and Pelham Parkway
North on Saturday afternoon
to protest the launch, just
days before the scooters hit
the streets.
Among voicing safety concerns,
the protestors said
DOT didn’t involve the Pelham
Parkway community in
its plans. Of additional concern
is scooters encroaching
on the Pelham Parkway
greenway and the neighborhood’s
parking spots.
The residents expressed
concerns over reckless riders
getting in the way of runners,
walkers and bicyclists on the
Pelham Parkway greenway
and drivers on the road.
In early May, Matthew Arnacio,
DOT director of Community
Affairs and Planning,
declined a request to meet
with Friends of Pelham Parkway,
according to emails provided
by Delgado.
Christopher Stewart, a
Cruger Avenue resident, said
the city should have installed
bike and scooter lanes before
launching the e-scooter program,
and that residents already
have issues with bike
and scooter riders lacking
etiquette on the greenway—a
problem he believes the pilot
will escalate.
“I’m telling them, slow
down, you know, share the
road, and these guys don’t listen,”
he said at the protest.
In preparation for the
launch, the scooter companies
provided almost 15 demonstrations
and gave out dozens
of helmets, which are
encouraged but not required
to ride the device.
“After a year of dedicated
effort we are seeing the City
prioritize the transportation
needs of Bronx residents,”
said City Councilman Fernando
Cabrera in a statement
released by DOT prior
to Tuesday’s launch. “And I
am excited to see the future of
this e-scooter program. I urge
e-scooter drivers to respect
traffi c laws and maintain the
safety of pedestrians.”
The e-scooter pilot was the
brainchild of Cabrera, who
sponsored the laws passed
by the City Council in June
2020 that legalized e-scooters
in the city and also required
a pilot program in areas underserved
by bike-share programs.
Cabrera, a Democrat,
cited parking issues in the
borough as part of the reason
for his support of the escooter
program.
As for parking, critics take
issue with the roadbed corrals
— street parking spaces
— that are now marked for
An instructor tests out a new escooters
at a launch event on Aug.
17, 2021, for the much-anticipated
pilot program. Photos Adrian Childress
scooters. Corrals, designated
spaces stripped on sidewalks
or parking spots, are
designed to keep stationary
e-scooters out of the way in
busy areas. E-scooter riders
that end their trips in areas
with corrals will be required
to park in them, while users
can park their scooters anywhere
along the sidewalk
curb in areas without corrals.
Kevin Arnold, a Holland
Avenue resident, said most residents
in the area need parking
spaces more than scooters, and
the scooters should be parked
at train stations. Delgado said
on Friday that she knows a resident
who received a ticket for
parking in a corral space, before
the pilot even began.
DOT has been accepting
feedback online for where corrals
should be placed, and pilot
representatives presented
to Community Boards 10, 11—
which includes Pelham Parkway—
and 12, about the corrals,
which are planned by DOT and
paid for by the scooter companies
participating in the pilot.
Out of 88 installed corrals, 71
are on sidewalks and 17 — a
little more than 19% — are on
roadbeds, according to DOT
maps.
The pilot was planned to
launch in early July, and DOT
has not said what caused the
delay.
Cabrera did not respond to
requests for comment.
The city Department of Transportation partnered with three e-scooter companies -- Lime, Bird and Veo -- to
outfi t the east Bronx with an initial phase of 3,000 scooters this year.
BY COUNCILMAN
MARK GJONAJ
This week, the mayor’s executive
order issuing a vaccine
mandate for select business
types goes into effect,
soon to be followed by city enforcement
in September. Patrons
of the identifi ed types
of businesses will have to produce
proof of vaccination, not
merely negative test results or
antibody tests.
Although clarifi cation on
how exactly the administration
will enforce this mandate
is needed, for now the responsibility
is on businesses
to check the vaccine status of
customers, which will include
restaurants, bars, movie theaters,
gyms, entertainment
venues and more. For a full
list of covered business types
and further details about the
“Key to NYC” program please
visit the “Offi ce of the Mayor”
page of www1.nyc.gov.
My offi ce has persisted on
its mission to serve the residents
of New York City Council
District 13. Beginning this
week, we have held a book
bag and school supply giveaway
in Loretto Park to guarantee
that no child heads to
school in the fall unprepared.
I have continued also on my
offi ce’s Shop Our City initiative,
where we highlight
small businesses essential to
the living texture of our community,
and as per my mandate
as chair of the council’s
Committee on Small Business.
This week we stopped
by Nick’s European Market
on Williamsbridge Road. I am
continually astounded by the
resiliency of our small businesses
in the face of the greatest
challenge they have perhaps
ever faced in our city’s
history. I applaud them and
I encourage us all to prioritize
our local, mom-and-pop,
brick-and-mortar small businesses.
All district events are held
with the utmost COVID-19
precautions, including PPE
use, sanitization and proper
distancing.
For further information
about upcoming constituents
services and events, or any
other district concern, please
contact my offi ce either by
phone at (718) 931-1721 or at
MGjonaj@council.nyc.gov.
link
/www1.nyc.gov
link