Washington, D.C. San Diego. Barcelona. Munich. Walk around any major tourist destination, and you’ll see them: electric kick scooters gliding silently around city center streets, zipping through traffic signals, or abandoned – lying on the street, propped up against trees, or, in some cases, dumped in rivers.
Scooter sharing systems have sprung up in more than 100 cities worldwide as this form of transportation grows more popular. More city residents are foregoing personal cars to rent scooters, bikes, and other single-user transportation for traveling short distances. This is especially true for “last mile” transportation, or transport to a final destination from a public transportation source.
Part of the appeal of e-scooter sharing systems is that they are often free-floating, dockless rental services, meaning the scooters can be parked and left anywhere the rider chooses when they’re finished, and the scooter will remain in the same spot until the next rider unlocks and rents it.
But without docks, scooters are cluttering sidewalks and blocking wheelchair ramps; in some cities, it’s hard to walk without tripping over one of them. Not surprisingly, many cities are concerned about the unbridled growth of e-scooters, given the resulting issues that accompany their use, such as obstructed sidewalks and vandalism.
A view of e-scooter use in Washington, D.C., visualized with Hexagon’s M.App Enterprise Feature Analyzer.
Smart Monitoring Offers a Solution for City Leaders and Scooter Providers
This is where Hexagon’s intelligent surveillance Smart Monitoring Solution comes in. With this rule-based monitoring solution, scooter sharing companies can automate the monitoring of their property, and rule violations (such as leaving a scooter in a hazardous location) can be reported to the company, allowing them to better maintain and protect their technology.
With the same solution, city leaders can make sure that the e-scooters in their jurisdictions are being used safely, and if not, they can make necessary decisions to improve safety exactly where issues are occurring.
Going a step further, the Smart Monitoring Solution also supports the ability for citizens to report obstructive and incorrectly parked scooters directly to their representatives using a mobile app. The citizen will get direct feedback about the reported issue and its resolution, and these messages can be sent automatically to streamline the process for administrators. The reported violations can also be shared with the scooter companies so that they can improve their management processes.
Ready to learn more? Check out our on-demand webinar, “How to Manage and Monitor the E-scooters Boom.”
