Move PGH and Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure recently lauded a two-year pilot program that brought Spin e-scooters to the city, but some critics say the effort isn’t doing enough to serve disabled and low-income residents.

“This is the most extreme example of marginalizing the disability community I’ve seen in my lifetime, to be frank,” said Paul O’Hanlon of Pittsburgh, a retired attorney and wheelchair user who is a member of the City-County Task Force on Disabilities.

“I question who DOMI is working for — the citizens of Pittsburgh or Spin?” O’Hanlon said. “I read this report and it looks like it came from a corporate spin doctor.”

The mid-pilot report, released last week, hails as accomplishments the city’s 576,726 scooter trips to date, as well as 82,022 bike-share trips and 8,104 instances of people using a ZipCar. The pilot program launched in July 2021 under Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto.

“Survey results of Spin users demonstrate the mode’s successes and how e-scooters have become a vital part of our transportation network,” the report said.

The report said 35% of Spin users claimed their scooter trips replaced private vehicle trips and reduced traffic on city streets. “Move PGH is proof that shared mobility can be used to make transportation more affordable, accessible, equitable and sustainable,” the report said.

Disability advocates accuse DOMI of launching the pilot program without input from disabled residents or advocacy groups, and claim the Americans with Disabilities Act requires the city to come up with reliable e-scooter alternatives for people who are not able to use the Spin scooters.

The advocacy group Pittsburghers for Public Transit is calling for the city not to renew the program when it ends in 2023, and to block laws allowing Spin, the only authorized e-scooter in Pennsylvania, to set up elsewhere.

“It’s a whole lot of putting Band-Aids on a problem, rather than fixing it,” said Alisa Grishman, an Uptown resident and wheelchair user who founded the group Access Mob Pittsburgh. “It’s frustrating.”

Maria Montano, a spokeswoman for Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, noted that Gainey inherited the pilot from the Peduto administration. She said the mayor and others are committed to hearing from the disability community on the issue.

Gainey’s administration is holding a Town Hall on Oct. 25 and two issues they plan to discuss are accessibility and mobility.

“It’s something we’re looking forward to addressing directly,” Montano told the Tribune-Review. “Our vision looking forward is one more of collaboration.”

That’s not enough for Gabriel McMorland.

The Pittsburghers for Public Transit member also calls into question whether the pilot program is serving low-income Pittsburghers well. Just one out of three DOMI survey respondents made less than $35,000 last year, and McMorland said the largest subset of Spin consumers used the e-scooters to replace walking or riding public transit.

“They’re not solving a social problem,” McMorland said. “They’re a toy for an urban playground.”

“It’s not serving low-income people,” he added. “The way it appears in the report is disingenuous. (The report) doesn’t read like an honest evaluation of the situation. It’s presented as advocacy for a specific end goal.”

Montano, Gainey’s spokeswoman, declined to speak about the creation of the program but defended the current administration’s record in engaging citizens.

“We are focused on making Pittsburgh the safest and most welcome city in America, and that means listening to communities and working with them,” she said.

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