Tejal Somvanshi
The Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT), Ydanis Rodríguez, announced today the arrival of electric scooters to Eastern Queens. The program, first announced in June last year, covers four community boards (7, 8, 11, and 12) and approximately 20 square miles, from Flushing and Auburndale in the north to Rochdale Village and Springfield Gardens in the south. The expansion builds on the success of electric scooter sharing in East Bronx, where commuters have logged 4.1 million rides across more than 163,000 unique user accounts since the service launched in August 2021.
“E-scooter share has arrived in Eastern Queens and we are very excited to build upon the successful East Bronx pilot,” said NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodríguez. “This expansion delivers a popular, safe, and environmentally sustainable mode of transportation to underserved neighborhoods in Queens.”
The Queens expansion covers several Tier 1 and 2 Priority Investment Areas, defined in the NYC Streets Plan as city areas with higher percentages of non-white and low-income populations; higher employment and population density; and lower levels of prior investments from NYC DOT. As part of the initial launch, NYC DOT opened a feedback portal last year and conducted street surveys in the proposed service area.
The installation and activation of docking portals for electric scooters will begin today, starting in the southern part of the expansion area and moving northward. The expansion area is expected to be fully activated next month. These companies will conduct daily outreach activities in the streets of the expanding communities during the first three weeks of the program.
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Since last fall, NYC conducted engagement activities on the streets of the borough, in addition to planning information meetings with elected officials, community boards, business improvement districts, universities, hospitals, and partner agencies. This year’s outreach consisted of presenting the corral locations, selected with public input from 2023. Additional outreach accompanying this year’s launch in Queens included raising awareness about the service and highlighting discounted pricing options. New Yorkers who receive or qualify for local, state, or federal assistance programs (e.g., SNAP, NYCHA, discounted utility bill) are eligible for discounted electric scooter rates.
In November 2022, NYC DOT published an evaluation report highlighting the successes of the Bronx pilot and examining uses after more than 1.4 million trips. The report found that the shared electric scooter pilot provided functional and accessible mobility options to historically underserved communities and offered an environmentally friendly mobility option, reducing reliance on motor vehicle use. The service was also determined to provide a “last mile” connection to subway stations, bus stops, and ferry terminals. Safety remains fundamental to the contractual and operational requirements of the electric scooter program, and NYC DOT requires safety training, a quiz, and an age verification in the app for new users. A ‘Beginner Mode’ also limits the first three rides of a new rider to a restricted speed of 10 mph and cannot be started during nighttime hours. Since the program launched, fewer than one accident per 10,000 trips has been reported.
“Launching in Eastern Queens is an important milestone in providing convenient, environmentally friendly, and reliable transportation options to NYC residents and visitors,” said Bird’s CEO, Stewart Lyons. “We had an incredibly successful pilot in the Bronx and are excited to build on this success with a community-centric operation in Eastern Queens on June 27. We’re enhancing connectivity in NYC by serving as a complement to mass transit, helping the boroughs we serve by offering a green alternative for daily commutes.”
