This story is a capstone project by CU Boulder’s News Corps students Gabbie Burton and Caroline Jackson.
At the heart of Lime scooters in Boulder is an unwavering absurdity. Mainly due to the students, the scooters function almost as public toys. Traveling up to about 15 mph, students are taking full advantage of the child-like enjoyment of riding these rides.
CU Boulder Junior Elizabeth Craig shared that her friend rode his Lime scooter into her house and kitchen. Sophomore Weston Lilley saw that someone had thrown one into Kittredge Pond. Lime scooters seem to have a habit of ending up in bodies of water, in homes, parking spaces or strewn about sidewalks.
With about 900 scooters operating in and around campus as of Sept. 1, 2023, CU Boulder has only had seven reported accidents. It may seem a marvel that number isn’t higher. From using the scooters to move a couch down the street to rides ending at the bottom of a creek, just about everyone in Boulder has a Lime scooter story to share.
“I saw someone get hit with a car when they were on a scooter!! (I was the someone lol),” one anonymous student wrote in an online submission form. Another shared their funniest story was, “Probably my friend Liming home drunk and eating shit and cutting her head open.”
Despite the claims of safety, a records request from the CU Boulder police department yielded seven reports of crashes on campus, two occurring in the fall semester of 2021 and five in the fall semester of 2023. Four accidents included injuries where the victims required some form of medical attention.
When CU Boulder Parking Services Director Tom McGann initially heard about Lime electric scooters operating in Boulder he was skeptical.
“I thought it was a terrible idea,” McGann said. Having worked at the university—which has an A+ party rating—and witnessing the idiosyncrasies of his three teenage boys, those reservations were understandable. However, after seeing the success of the pilot program, McGann recognized the opportunity and worked to expand the scooters onto campus. Ultimately, he was successful.
“We have not seen major accidents on Lime scooters, I am glad that I was wrong in this instance,” McGann said.
But that’s not the case in Denver where accidents on Lime scooters have gone up in recent years with Denver Health saying it is seeing approximately four injuries a day from Lime Scooters, some presenting with head and orthopedic injuries requiring surgery. There is currently a case in Denver where a minor was injured after the front wheel of a Lime scooter fell off and caused a crash resulting in a concussion. According to Denver Police Department statistics, there were 64 reported electric scooter crashes in 2023. Though the data shared did not specify Lime scooters, there was an uptick in accidents after 2018, the year Lime scooters were introduced to the city.
Lime first introduced its scooters to Boulder in 2021, when the city agreed to a pilot program allowing 200 of the vehicles to operate west of 28th Street. This initiative was led by Robert Perry, project manager of Lime in Boulder. For Perry, Boulder and Lime are a perfect match.
“The city of Boulder has a wonderful ecosystem that the scooters really fit in well and the city has adopted them,” Perry said.
He cites the city’s underpasses at busy intersections used by pedestrians, bikers and scooter riders as one example of this “ecosystem.” In addition to Lime, Boulder also features electric B-Cycles as part of the same micromobility initiative by the city to promote greener transportation.
“We serve more than 250 cities in over 35 countries, deploying more than 250,000 e-bikes, e-scooters, and adaptive vehicles every day. Lime riders have taken more than 400 million rides…saving over 3.1 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere,” states the Lime team.
Safety while using micromobility vehicles like electric scooters is seemingly a priority for the city. A curfew on scooters was implemented from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. to monitor safety. The city later amended this curfew to begin at 1 a.m. after home football games. This sets Boulder apart from other Colorado markets like Denver and Colorado Springs, which have not imposed curfews.
The scooters also provide some financial benefits to students. According to an article published by Forbes, Uber prices have increased 83% in a 45-month period. With Lime being only $1 to unlock and 35 cents per minute, lower-income students have an accessible micromobility option.
CU student Olivia Davis uses a Lime scooter every other day. With a normal walking commute of 30 minutes from her college home to school buildings, Lime scooters cut that time to seven minutes. This commute costs an average of $3.45/trip. Her classmate, Autumn Choka, chooses to Uber to school instead. Spending around ten minutes in the car, Choka spends approximately $15 on a single trip.
With the benefit of helping students get to and from school in a timely manner, the cost efficiency is ideal for the target audience of college students. But while safety, eco-consciousness and affordability have all been cited as positives, some are anticipating more injuries.
In August, Debbie Taussig, a Boulder-based personal injury lawyer, added a page on her law firm’s website to let community members know their legal options if they are hurt in an accident involving Lime scooters. Taussig recently handled a legal case involving a student who was injured by a car while on a Lime scooter back in April, notably before the scooter program was expanded across the city and campus. This is Taussig’s first and only case involving an e-scooter.
Taussig shared that if a scooter driver, pedestrian or biker is injured in an accident, they can rely on their car insurance policy despite their car not being involved in the accident. Taussig noted the unlikelihood that Lime would get involved in any injury cases except in the case of injuries being caused by faulty scooters, something the Lime team claims is uncommon.
“There are almost no instances of that happening and 99.99% of rides globally are completed without incident–without serious incident,” said Jacob Tugendrajch, Lime’s PR communications lead.
Tugendrajch declined to comment further, but hospitals have seen a steady rise in scooter-related injuries. Marc Barnes, an EMT working in Boulder, shared one of his experiences responding to a medical emergency caused by a Lime scooter in a Google Forms survey. He wrote that he rushed a 14-year-old girl to the emergency room after she was found, “altered and lethargic in her bedroom.” According to Barnes, three days prior to the call, she had fallen off a scooter, hit the back of her head and was not initially seen for her injuries. It was discovered at the hospital that she had suffered a brain bleed and underwent surgery. Barnes added, “I never followed up on the call to see if she survived.”
While Lime accidents that are reported and require medical attention are more notable, the majority go unreported.
Logan Kolander, a sophomore at CU Boulder studying civil engineering, was involved in such an accident while riding his motorized bike down Broadway this past October. No major injuries occurred, but his main form of transportation was put out of commission.
“This kid on a scooter, he was on his phone and on the scooter at the same time, and he veered into my lane. I swerved at the last second to get out of the way,” Kolander said. “He swerved last minute too once he realized he was going right at me and we crashed head-on.”
Kolander offers unique perspectives on Lime scooters in Boulder as he focuses on safe road design and sustainable transportation in his major and also works as the fleet operations coordinator for CU NightRide.
“I think the big difference between a scooter and a bicycle is a bicycle you’re actively pedaling, and it’s an active mobility thing so you’re aware of your surroundings when you’re moving your body,” Kolander said. “Whereas a scooter, it’s just a finger on a throttle and you can really be doing anything so I think that’s why people are just unaware of their surroundings.”
Lime scooters are also often used as an alternative to driving home or taking a rideshare after a few drinks. Several students shared anecdotes about witnessing or experiencing accidents themselves while intoxicated, a behavior that is especially prevalent during and after CU football games. One student wrote in the Google Forms survey they saw two college boys “run over” three small children riding in a front-loading bike trailer and an adult man riding the bike.
“It was insane and made me feel like Limes just need to be banned in Boulder,” the student wrote.
The problems don’t stop when the ride is over. Assuming riders make it safely to their destination, parking the scooters initiates another wave of trouble for the community.
“I’ve seen scooters in the creek by my house and in the middle of the road, people just leave them everywhere,” Kolander said.
Lime creates docking stations called Lime Groves all around the city and campus in an effort to prevent abandoned scooters in the middle of the road or other safety-threatening areas. Parking in the Lime Groves is mandatory when in certain areas—including the CU Boulder campus—but not around the entire city. Abandonment seems to be the issue frustrating community members the most. Tara Winer, a city council member who voted to approve Lime scooters across the city, said she’s received several grievances from constituents.
“I can tell you from complaints in my inbox, I get occasionally concerned grandmas worried about people on the scooters but also where they’re left. That’s the complaint I get mostly, where they are left,” Winer said.
Beyond just annoyance, a user on the social media site Nextdoor mentioned the accessibility concerns these abandoned scooters cause.
“For the able-bodied people commenting here who don’t realize or care, an obstruction to a sidewalk where a disabled pedestrian must step aside onto the grass or dirt to get around the hazard, one can easily lose their footing especially if there are divots or uneven areas. For those in wheelchairs, this is even more problematic,” the user posted.
While some have changed their minds about electric scooters after seeing and experiencing accidents, others seem unfazed. One student wrote in the Google Forms survey a scooter slammed on the brakes while they were riding it to a football game near Goss Grove. They, “went flying and smacked their shin,” which is the third time they’ve fallen off a Lime scooter.
“I love the Limes regardless and will continue to use them despite the injury,” the student wrote.
As City Council member Winer summarized, “I’m a big believer in fun and if fun can be safe, I’m happier. So I think it’s TBD on the scooters.”