Scooter stats

The city's first Polco survey went live on Nov. 14 and asked residents to indicate how they'd like scooter companies to be treated in Bloomington. Since it was first posted, the survey has gotten an average of 239 responses to its five questions. Around 82% of respondents said they had not used a rentable scooter in Bloomington.

Respondents were largely split three ways between welcoming companies while encouraging safety; allowing companies while assuring they comply with local rules; and prohibiting companies until they register and verify their abilities to comply with the city's regulations. Just 9% of that survey's respondents wanted to ban the scooters outright.

The Bloomington Resident Scooter Survey was publicized on the city's website, Facebook, Twitter, Nextdoor and other local media outlets. The survey was available from March 4-8 and received 1,891 responses.

Nearly 88% of respondents to that survey said they wanted to see the city issue a scooter ordinance flatly stating "riders must follow all traffic laws." The second-highest favored concept, with 73% of respondents in favor, want designated parking areas for scooter-shares.

During that same time period, the city conducted a parallel Indiana University-focused scooter survey. Publicized in the student newspaper, the survey was designed to take less than a minute and ultimately garnered 124 responses. Around 70% of respondents were either IU students or staff. Only 46% of respondents had ridden an electric scooter in Bloomington. One interesting takeaway from that survey shows 65% of respondents would like to see free, designated parking for scooters.

A list of free-form responses included at the end of the report demonstrate several schools of thought. There are calls to outright ban the scooters, cries to actually enforce the existing rules, a movement calling for helmets to be required and more. Many respondents suggested the city collect money from the scooter companies to fund Bloomington Transit, road and sidewalk repairs, parking or the extra law enforcement work required to police the scooters.