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New scooters in Downtown Orlando have seats
Brand new scooters are speeding around Downtown Orlando now. The latest scooter, from the company Wheels, has a seat.
ORLANDO, Fla. - A third e-scooter company has delivered the shared transportation devices to Downtown Orlando, but these are different than the rest. Micromobility company "Wheels," is introducing sit-down scooters to the City Beautiful.
It's basically a traditional e-scooter, with a seat.
"Wheels e-scooters have been specifically designed to be safer and more accessible than traditional standup scooters, with a comfortable seat for riders as well as bigger wheels and an overall lower center of gravity," said a press release from Wheels.
Rider Rachel Zieleniec agrees.
Sit-down scooters introduced to Downtown Orlando. (Wheels)
“I think they are way safer and they give people more confidence in their ability to maneuver around traffic,” said Rachel Zieleniec, e-scooter rider.
Though the other e-scooters are capped at 10 mph, the City of Orlando has approved the sit-down version to travel up to 20 mph, on roads.
Riders will need to be prepared to deal with vehicles, unlike the conventional scooters we’re seeing around Orlando that may be ridden on sidewalks, these can only be ridden on the road.
The City’s Transportation Director believes they belong on the road.
“It’s no different than bicyclists, bicyclists operate the roads, we’ve had good success with people behaving well, we believe this will be no different,” said Billy Hattaway, Transportation Director, City of Orlando.
The Wheels scooters will be distributed throughout the City in the Downtown, College Park, and Park Lake/Highland neighborhoods.
Wheels tells FOX35 safety is its priority. It plans to roll out shareable helmets that will connect and stay with each scooter. The helmet will come equipped with a liner, much like a toilet seat cover, that can be peeled to reveal a fresh liner for the next user.
The City’s permit also requires each vendor to host safety events for the community.
Six vendors have approved permits, so far only three of them have deployed e-scooters.