By Alora Peters, Editor-in-Chief
Saint Leo University recently unveiled a new line of electric scooters—known as the Pride Ride—during a grand opening ceremony that took place March 22.
“Students needed a way to get from either side of the campus, a way to turn a 10–15 minute walk into a three-minute ride,” said Quiwanaki Ramsey, Student Government Union President, through social media. “Mobility was an issue that needed to be addressed upon the campus.”
The new scooters, which are made available through the mobility company Slidr, have been met with both excitement and skepticism by members of the Saint Leo community.
“I thought the scooters were a great idea because so many of my freshmen have been complaining about the walk from Marmion–Snyder, as well as getting around campus with an injury from my athletic students,” said Brooke King, an adjunct faculty member from the Department of Language Studies and the Arts who teaches English and creative writing.
However, though King initially thought the scooters were a positive transportation initiative on campus, she began to have doubts when she experienced the scooters being misused.
“One encounter I had, just moments after they were blessed and the President had taken his maiden voyage on one, a student going well above the posted speed limit outside of Tapia School of Business almost hit me in the crosswalk,” said King. “The student neither slowed down nor apologized. Then, minutes later, while walking to the library for my next class, I barely had time to move out of the way into the grass before getting run over by another student who was facetiming on their phone while still holding onto the handlebars and driving too fast.”
King hopes that, after the initial excitement of the grand opening dies down, incidents like hers will be less prevalent, and hopes that the university will be clear and firm about how the scooters ought to be and ought not to be used.
“Though the misuse of some does not mean that all will misuse them, there should be some sort of regulation as to where they can be used, rules for usage, and repercussions for misuse of them,” said King.
The university has stated that students need to be courteous while riding the scooters and obey all of Saint Leo’s “rules of the road,” some of which are below:
- Scooters are allowed on roads only and are not for use on any of the sidewalks. The sidewalk surrounding the Bowl—the grassy area behind the Student Community Center—is the only sidewalk on which the scooters can be used.
- Scooters must obey all of the same traffic laws and regulations that apply to other motorized vehicles, such as following traffic signs.
- Cell phones are not to be in use while scooting, as both hands should always be on the scooter.
- Only one rider is allowed on a scooter at a time.
- Riders must be at least sixteen years old.
- Riders are not allowed to “pop wheelies,” use scooters on stairs, or use scooters for any other purpose besides traveling between different locations on University Campus.
The university also strongly recommends that students wear helmets while using the scooters, and helmets will be made available for free usage.
Helmets are available to be checked out from the Student Activities Building, the Wellness Center, the Library, Campus Safety, and the Residence Life Office in Apartment 6.
The scooters are available to students and members of the Saint Leo community at a cost of 29 cents per minute. In order to rent the scooters, riders must download the Slidr app through the Apple or the Google Play app store.
The Slidr app only operates in the United States, meaning that some international students have experienced issues when attempting to download it; to resolve this issue, the phone’s and app store’s region must be changed to the United States region.
If riders experience any problem operating the scooters, they should report them through the Slidr app.
