Corrals for eScooters aim to offer safe, easy way to park in Pittsburgh

The parking situation for controversial electric scooters in Pittsburgh may be improving.

San Francisco-based Spin has deployed the more than 1,000 eScooters throughout the city. They have now installed 115 parking corrals for the scooters in an effort to provide a safe and convenient place for riders to park the scooters out of the way of cars and pedestrians.

The scooters, which debuted in July as part of the city’s Move PGH pilot program, are meant to offer an easy and accessible way for Pittsburghers to make last-mile trips, like riding from a bus stop to their home or work.

“This is a long project with both DOMI (Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure) and Spin to make sure that there is accessible parking wherever you might want to be,” said Dan Shoman, Spin’s general manager. “The idea is wherever you are riding, there should be a parking corral within walking distance of your final destination.”

But some riders have been leaving the scooters in the path of cars, on pedestrian sidewalks, in handicap parking spaces and at other problematic spots, prompting a flurry of complaints to the city’s 311 service.

Part of bringing a new mode of transportation to the city is teaching its users the appropriate etiquette, Shoman said. Educational screens pop up when users log on to a new account to explain how to use the scooters and how and where to park, he said.

Riders who behave irresponsibly or park in inappropriate spots get warnings on their accounts, he said, which could ultimately lead to account suspension. Over 500 warnings have been sent to users in Pittsburgh who have improperly parked so far, Shoman said.

Riders can park the scooters in legal parking areas on the street. They can also park at Spin hubs, where users can plug in scooters to charge, which earns them a 50-cent incentive to the next ride. The other appropriate parking option is the parking corrals.

The parking corrals are about half the size of a standard parking spot and can hold up to eight scooters. They are marked by a painted stencil of a scooter, and some have poles on either side of the spot, Shoman said. They were created primarily in business districts with heavy pedestrian traffic.

“Inside the app, when you rent a scooter, all of the parking points are designated by little ‘P’s in the app,” Shoman said. “All of the spin hubs you’ll see marked as a dollar sign in the app because we give a user incentive to park at our hubs because the scooters are also being charged there.”

Pittsburgh is the first city to launch this model of parking corrals, though other cities have similar methods, Shoman said.

The first parking corrals were installed in mid-July, but it took time to have a wide network of them ready. Spin can add more if the need arises, he said.

More than 150,000 rides have been taken on the scooters since their introduction in July.

This comes as Pittsburgh City Council recently responded to concerns that some riders were using the scooters in unsafe and irresponsible manners — riding them through the Liberty Tunnels, carrying babies while riding and parking them in places where they could disrupt traffic.