Comment Log Display

To the Air Resources Board,

After reviewing the presentations and materials from Wednesday's
workshop, I have a few comments:

First, thank you for helping to make California a leader in
reducing emissions from transportation and creating jobs in low-and
zero-emission transportation.

Second, I believe the power of parking policy to shift
transportation demand and behavior is underestimated in workshop
materials. When California began allowing electric vehicles in HOV
lanes, electric vehicle sales spiked. If California cities gave
preference in parking to electric vehicles and shared vehicles,
sales and use of such vehicles would increase radically and
combustion-powered VMT would drop noticeably. Parking is a very
touchy subject, especially in cities where there isn't enough of
it, and much parking policy is decided locally, but the state
should encourage preferential parking for electric and shared
vehicles in whatever ways it can. By preference I mean exemption
from time limits and/or exemption from parking meter fees.

Third, I was sorry to see no mention of electric vehicles smaller
than cars in the workshop materials. For local trips (which are the
majority or all trip and all VMT), electric bikes, electric mopeds,
electric motorcycles, and neighborhood electric vehicles are
viable, and in many cases superior, substitutes for car trips. To
date the State has offered little support for the purchase, use, or
sharing of such vehicles. This is a pity because a dollar of
subsidy goes much further when spent on a light electric vehicle
than when spent on a Tesla. Light electric vehicles could grow much
more quickly as a share of the State's transportation mix than will
electric cars with the same level of subsidy. Just as importantly,
a subsidized Tesla is still only affordable to the rich, but a
subsidize light electric vehicle is affordable to almost anyone,
especially if it can be shared as part of a service like Scoot.

Scoot is the largest private electric transportation service in the
US, with over 500 vehicles in San Francisco and tens of the
thousands of riders. We are adding 150+ American-made electric
mopeds to our fleet every month. It costs only $3 to rent a scoot
for a one-way ride in San Francisco, and scooting is the fastest
way to get around the city, even though the scoots are capped at 30
MPH to allow them to ridden by people without a motorcycle license.
Most Scoot riders have their first experience of electric vehicles
with Scoot (most have never and likely will never see the inside of
a Tesla). Most are transit riders who use Scoot as a last mile
solution or a way to get places when they are in a hurry and can't
afford to hire a taxi or Uber. We employ 45 people full time,
including many, such as some of our mechanics, without a bachelors
degree.

Scoot has never received any incentive, grant, tax credit or other
financial support from any agency of the State of California. We
wish we could be a part of the State's solutions to climate change,
but we will never offer cars to our customers, so for now, it seems
we are not a part of the plan.

Respectfully,

Michael Keating
Founder & CEO
Scoot Networks