OPINION: Bristol’s new electric scooter company has a lot to learn about the city

The honeymoon period is over, the teething problems have been ironed out, and I’m four months into my life in Bristol, where my coral pink Voi electric scooters have been replaced by bright green TIER electric scooters.

For those who don’t or won’t use transport, it won’t be much of a change, but for the tens of thousands of people who regularly ride in Bristol, the new provider of their main transport option has been a big change. Compared to Voi’s time, some things are better than before, and some are worse. As the Voi era fades into the haze of post-coronavirus memory, it feels increasingly like the halcyon days of this modern mode of transportation.

So what does TIER get right and what does it get so wrong? This is important because as bus service continues to decline and continue to be cut, traffic congestion continues to choke the city. , the long-promised mass rapid transit subway system and electric scooter rental system are unlikely to materialize after all. It is, and always will be, more than just a fun thing for people to ride around for a laugh. For thousands of people, this is an important mode of transportation, essential for getting to and from work or university on a regular, if not daily, basis.

Read next: TIER apologizes for lack of electric scooters in Bristol, explains why

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By way of background, Voy says that from the early days on, there were a number of problems and issues that were eventually resolved before he started exploring how to bring an electric scooter rental scheme to fruition in cities like Bristol. Thing. There are terrible roads and an even worse public environment. Demand was the highest in Europe due to the transport system.

When TIER arrived in October, things quickly changed and got even worse. But again, TIER seems to have solved these initial problems. They quickly did not have enough electric scooters and then discovered that most of them had broken kickstands and had to be taken out of service to be repaired.

After an initial test drive of the scooter itself, it didn’t seem particularly fair to judge the TIER before Christmas, as it was dealing with a number of teething issues, but now that the new year has started Now that months have passed, we have gotten over that problem. Spring is coming and then summer is coming. As the weather gets nicer and the days get longer, more and more people are choosing electric scooters over buses, trains and cars. So what is an electric scooter?

But the thing is, seasonal scooter riders who have been riding Voi and coming back since last summer might be a little disappointed. I proudly rank in the top 5 percent of most frequent Voi scooter riders and continue to embrace this technology as the most convenient and often fastest way to get around town.

So, I will give my opinion on what is right and what is wrong with TIER.

scooter

Some people don’t really like them, but I agree with many who think they’re a slight improvement on Voi. The heavier battery is mounted on the upright, making it feel lighter and easier to maneuver. This means it’s easier to avoid potholes and drive over curbs to reach parking zones.

It’s not that different from Voi, but there is one important difference. Voi’s electric scooter had a speed limiter that could not exceed 12 miles per hour, and if it did, it would limit the speed and sometimes apply brakes to keep it within the limit. There is no such thing with TIER e-scooter. The handy digital speedometer won’t show speeds above 20 km/h on level ground, but if you’re going down a big hill, there’s nothing stopping you from going up to 30-35 km/h, except fear.

Some people may like that, while others may prefer not having to slam on the dangerous brakes coming down Park Street or Constitution Hill. Personally, one night, as I was driving down the steep and potholed Redcatch Road from Knowle West to Bedminster in the rain and darkness, I realized the difference, especially when there was a double-decker bus behind me. It probably wasn’t the best moment to discover .

Where did the parking space go?

One of the biggest complaints people have about the Voi electric scooter rental system is that certain areas in their area are designated as parking spots for electric scooters, often with up to 100 vehicles parked. It was from a resident who noticed that there was. If you lived on the same street as the closest parking zone to the Downs in Clifton on a sunny summer’s day, or tried to shop at Aldi on North Street in Ashton Gate when an event was on; I definitely should have known that.

In his later years, Voi worked hard to identify problems, limit numbers, and find new locations to spread the load. It appears that one of the first things TIER did was significantly reduce the number of parking zones.

Where you could previously park a Voi is no longer a place to park a TIER. Not only is this extremely frustrating, but more on this later, it also makes it hard to find when you’re looking for it.

the app is a nightmare

Voi’s app was okay, a little glitchy at times, but fully functional and user-friendly. TIER’s app is a lesson in what not to do with apps. The list of differences that make it worse than before is long, but the main ones are:

First, if you rent a scooter, the battery level will not be displayed until you rent it. Voi’s app offered a small step before confirming employment, where it displayed the percentage of battery remaining. If you’re below 25% or 15%, you can get out of that employment and hire another before it’s too late. This is especially important if your route involves steep climbs or if you plan on traveling a significant distance.

TIER’s app provides post-hire notifications, which are cryptic, annoying, and incredibly unhelpful. There is a possibility to preview the battery life in advance, but you have to tap on a specific scooter on the map before you get there, and map zoom and scrolling functionality on the app is very limited, and the scooter Some places are limited. It is not possible to park more than 3 scooters together. Trust me, I tried.

But that’s not the worst part of this app. The worst part is that there’s no way to even tell the app that you only want to see available electric scooters, but it defaults to showing bikes as well every time you look at it.

No, the worst part is the fact that the app does not show the location of the parking space. You have to guess before you get on board. This is especially frustrating if you’re planning a trip somewhere where you don’t know where the parking zones are.

It’s only after you rent the scooter that they tell you where the parking zone is, but even then the map works very poorly, with all the scooters already parked there covering the map. Therefore, it is almost impossible to see. You also don’t know if the parking zone is full or not.

The app doesn’t seem to know about Bristol either. The other day I tried to park near the Cenotaph at The Center and the app said the parking zone was full, but it wasn’t. We were then directed to the nearest parking zone with a recommended route up the Christmas Stairs.

distribution

Mr. Voi struggled with this, but gradually got better at it, until Metro Mayor Dan Norris embarrassed many by announcing that another company would take over. This is a constant question, and there is no easy answer.

The problem is that in Bristol people use electric scooters as their primary means of commuting, rather than using rented electric scooters to get around the city in a regular and random manner. This means that in the morning there is a large demand in the suburbs, and during the day all the demand is concentrated in the city center.

There, they are left largely unused, and when work is done they ride back to the suburbs. Electric scooters are clearly not a mass transport solution and there is no easy answer to this. Voi will help stop a phenomenon where hundreds of idle scooters fill the city center during working hours, leaving no one to be found in St George’s, Brislington and Horfield after 9am. We weren’t very good at redistributing enough scooters around the city. .

But incredibly, TIER actually managed to make this problem even worse. Strangely, they fill three quarters of the city center parking zone at the start of each day. I don’t know why. Maybe there’s a computer algorithm they use that says they’ll hire people later in the city center, but as a result the suburbs aren’t as crowded as usual in the morning, and all during the day. of people will no longer be employed. Parking lots in the city center are full all day long.

It’s really strange. This photo above of the parking zone on the west side of Bristol Bridge, near the Norwich Union Buildings on the High Street, was taken just before 9am and shows a very orderly line of electric scooters. This indicates that it must have been left there overnight. Tia. An inspection later that afternoon revealed that most of the neat lines remained intact.

The same is true for the photo below, which shows the same phenomenon at The Center near the Burke statue. Again most scooters were parked by TIER first thing in the morning and others were brought there by riders. The parking zone was full. The main reason was that TIER was filling parking zones with scooters that no one wanted to hire.

Voy was understandably upset when his electric scooter rental contract in the west of England was broken. The West of England was often said to have the most riders, the most rentals and the most miles covered in all of Europe. It seems like TIER has a lot to learn about this city and how its people use electric scooters, and needs to learn it fast.