Superpedestrian replaces Blue Duck scooters in Waco, Texas

Earlier this month the Waco City Council approved an agreement with Superpedestrian, a worldwide shared mobility system company, to provide e-scooters around the downtown area. The contract authorizes operation at no cost to the city for three years with the opportunity for a one-year extension.

Superpedestrian offers standing and seated scooters in more than 65 cities in 11 countries, according to the company’s policy and government relations manager, Jacob Mandel. The scooters will operate in Waco from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Mandel said the scooters were created with personal safety and community protection at the forefront of their design, an attribute that sets them apart from their competition.

Waco first saw scooters in the summer of 2017 with the company Bird’s short-lived stint. Agreements with Gotcha Bikes and Lime in 2018 and 2020, respectively, never came to fruition, and in 2020 Blue Duck brought its scooters to town.

Planning Director Clint Peters said Blue Duck’s contract was good for a one-year pilot program with the option to extend for another year. Given the success of Blue Duck’s two-year stint in Waco, the city earlier this year made a request for proposals for a long-term shared mobility system, prioritizing proper device parking, maintenance and appropriate distribution. The city received proposals from Bird, Blue Duck and Superpedestrian.

Mandel said Superpedestrian’s vehicle intelligence system is constantly checking scooters to see if they are in a safe and rentable condition. A scooter can autonomously adjust and correct issues within itself and will pull itself offline if it decides it cannot fix itself, dispatching an employee to pick up the scooter to be repaired, he said.

Superpedestrian will employ a fully benefitted local workforce of people who will work in shifts, ensuring there will always be someone on staff available to respond to help tickets. Workers will redistribute scooters among parking hubs if they find many are clustered in one area, and they will pick up scooters for repairs done by in-house mechanics, Mandel said.

The system uses “composite geofencing,” meaning the technology that keeps the scooter within its operating limits lives onboard the scooter, Mandel said.

“It has a very quick response time when entering into zones where it may not be allowed to be,” he said.

The electronic perimeter matches the Imagination Waco downtown plan’s service area, stretching from 26th Street across the river to New Dallas Highway, and from La Salle Avenue up to Herring Avenue.

Baylor University’s campus and Magnolia are no-ride zones. Pedestrian-heavy areas along the riverwalk and Waco Suspension Bridge are slow-ride zones that require users to travel at lower speeds. Per deed restrictions, riders may not start or end their rides at Cameron Park. The device will alert riders of zone changes and no-parking areas with the lights found on their handlebars.

“We have identified 30 parking hubs within the city … as well as five event hubs that will be activated during largescale events on the Baylor campus to prevent scooters from entering the Baylor campus,” Mandel said. “We have taken great lengths to make sure that our devices will not enter the Baylor campus in this initial rollout. It was made very clear to us throughout the process … that Baylor does not want devices on their campus.”

The city also has the flexibility to change these areas or add new fences as the system develops.

The scooters’ intelligence system can also sense when the device has been tipped over.

“I know many of us, especially who have had a shared mobility system in the past, have seen those scooters tipped over on the street,” Mandel said. “The scooter is smart enough to know that if it was to be tipped over it would automatically create a ticket in our dispatch center to let somebody know to go pick it up and place it back in the spot where it’s supposed to be placed back upright.”

New riders will enter into new-rider mode and be required to take a safety quiz to learn about the city’s regulations and safe riding practices. For example, riders must be 18 years old and may not ride on sidewalks.

Rides start with a $1 fee to unlock the scooter and then pay 39 cents per minute. Anyone who is eligible for state, local or federal assistance may receive a 70% discount, and students enrolled at any higher education institution may receive a 30% discount, Mandel said.

“We found that when you make it easy to sign up, qualify and use our equity programs more people ride,” Mandel said.

The system accepts pre-paid debit cards, and riders without access to a smartphone can call and make a reservation for a scooter rather than logging into the app.

Waco began with a slow rollout of 50 vehicles earlier this month and will scale up service to meet demand, allowing up to 400 regular scooters and 200 seated scooters.