Scoot to SocSci? Not so fast, Duke says

With electric scooters having arrived in Durham June 13, the University has announced restrictions for riding them on campus.

Operation of scooters is limited to between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., and they must be parked at designated bike racks. Riders must walk their scooters in highly congested areas of campus such as the Bryan Center Plaza, Abele Quad, the East Campus Quad and the Duke Athletics facility area.

In addition, scooters can’t be brought aboard Duke Transit vehicles and are banned from Duke buildings, the Sarah P. Duke Gardens and parking garages. 

Duke’s scooter guidelines also stipulate that users must be more than 16 years old, hold a valid driver’s license and yield the right-of-way to pedestrians.

Durham announced in early June that it had granted permits for 800 scooters—200 each from the companies Bird, Gotcha, Lime and Spin—to operate in the city. Duke’s scooters will be provided by Spin.

Typical pricing for electric scooters begins at $1 to unlock the scooter and an additional charge per mile, which varies by company. Riders may pay with an app, but Durham also required the scooter companies to provide an alternate payment method for riders without smartphones, credit cards, and debit cards.

Raleigh welcomed Bird and Lime scooters to the city last summer, but in March, the two companies declined to continue operations in Raleigh due to “burdensome regulations.”

Last August, Bird also brought 100 electric scooters to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—but they hadn’t gotten a permit. Within two days, UNC banned the scooters due to public safety concerns.