CHICAGO — Thousands of shared scooters are coming to Chicago streets this spring.
The city has picked companies Lime, Spin and Superpedestrian to operate electronic, shared scooters, according to a Thursday news release. They’ll put 3,000 scooters on the streets this spring — and Lyft will add 1,000 Divvy scooters to the Downtown area.
The Lime, Spin and Superpedestrian scooters will be spread across the city, with at least 50 percent deployed to Equity Priority Areas, many of which are on the South and West sides, according to the city. They will not be allowed on the Lakefront Trail, The 606, the Riverwalk or at Navy Pier.
Those scooters will have cable-locking technology and software that detects if someone is riding on a sidewalk and stops it, helping to reduce scooter use and clutter on the sidewalks, according to the city.
Only Lyft’s Divvy scooters will operate in the central Downtown area for the time being, and Divvy will incentivize users to dock their scooters at the stations, according to the city. Lime, Spin and Superpedestrian’s scooters will be allowed Downtown in mid-summer.
Lyft’s scooters will be able to be parked at 230 stations in and around the Downtown area, according to the city. The scooters will be part of Divvy memberships programs, as Lyft owns Divvy.
Lime, Spin and Superpedestrian will set their own prices, but they’ll be required to provide a low-income option and to accept cash payments, and they must have ways for people to pay for scooters if they don’t have a smartphone, according to the city.
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