CLEVELAND, Ohio — Starting Friday, you'll get some extra time to cruise around Cleveland on those popular shared scooters.
The city officially extended the scooter curfew by two hours.
The curfew shifts from 9 to 11 p.m.
City officials say this is all part of Mayor Justin Bibb’s master plan to make the city more walkable, ridable and accessible to everyone living here.
“I’m glad! I’m happy that it’s being extended to 11 p.m." Hannah Allen said.
Cleveland State University student Hannah Allen could not contain her excitement over the Cleveland shared scooter curfew extension.
Before Friday, the scooters would automatically shut off at 9 p.m.
Now, riders like Hannah have two extra hours to utilize the service.
"I really think that's gonna benefit them a lot," Ryan Cordaro of Cleveland said.
"Whenever my friends and I wanna have an event to do downtown—we use the scooters," Allen said.
The city rolled out the various shared Bird, Lime and LINK by Superpedestrian scooters back in the fall of 2019.
Over the years, they got plenty of rider feedback.
One of the biggest requests from users was making the devices more accessible and convenient for everyone—later in the day.
"We worked with the companies, the shared mobility companies that we have committed right now. They shared a lot of data that showed that people are opening their apps, trying to ride scooters between the hours of 9 and 11," said Calley Mersmann, Senior Strategist for Transit and Mobility with the City of Cleveland.
Mersmann says the city also took into account scooter injury data, and it shows people were already riding around in the dark with no more of a risk than if it were lighter outside.
"The scooters are equipped with front and back lights, and this was the right next step for us to increase accessibility for people looking for scooter share," Mersmann said.
City of Cleveland officials say rider safety is the number one priority.
They suggest always wearing a helmet and only riding the devices in the bike lanes.
They stressed the scooters can be remotely shut off if it's raining or snowing outside to better keep riders out of harms way.
But many riders wondered if the extension of hours to 11 p.m. would cause potential harm due to their location near many restaurants and places that serve alcohol.
"There's a lot of bars downtown, and that's mainly where the scooters are. So, I mean that can be a concern," Mackenna Allen of Cleveland State University said.
Mersmann says the city worked directly with the scooter companies to prevent riding under the influence by adding a safeguard and quiz that users must take once they open the app to successfully ride.
That will be in place beginning Friday.
"There will just be a couple more steps for them in the evening and entertainment districts to complete a little bit of a cognitive test to help ensure that they are capable and able to operate the scooters safely," Mersmann said.
And while the shared scooter program in Cleveland curfew has been extended, the city of Lakewood ended its scooter pilot program as planned.
They are looking for overall feedback on how to improve the program.
You can provide your input on the Lakewood shared scooter program here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Lakewood-Scooter-Pilot-2022
The survey is available until Feb. 17.
This isn't the first time the city of Cleveland changed the curfew.
When the program first started the curfew was 7 p.m. and evolved over time.
The city of Cleveland's shared bike program is still in place and runs 24/7.
