Coming Soon to College Park: Electric Scooters?

Courtesy of Bird

Scooter ridesharing may be coming soon to College Park.

Electric scooters, which can be rented on an app, have become the latest entrant in the burgeoning urban hipster transportation market. They can be seen in less inhibited parts of Washington daily.

After several scooter companies reached out to the University of Maryland about setting up a program in College Park — including the most well-known, California-based Bird — the student body voted for a resolution in favor of bringing them to campus.

The city is also weighing a separate contract with Zagster, which currently runs its bikeshare program, for electric scooters, according to the Diamondback.

Scooters would do well on a campus like the University of Maryland, with lots of sidewalks away from busy roads. But they could raise safety concerns if students start taking them along Route 1, especially at night.

One study found scooters were involved in 249 emergency room visits in two California hospitals over a one-year period, mostly for cuts, bruises and bone fractures. Only two patients were sent to intensive care.

For now, it’s too soon to tell if scooters are a transportation fad or the next big thing, and equally hard to say whether they’re more risky than bikes or other forms of transportation. But if anywhere on Route 1 would be good for them, it would be College Park.

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