At the beginning of this year, Lime, a transportation company known in the community, introduced a new service: the Lime-S electric scooters are now available for use to the citizens of Starkville.
The scooters were introduced in January with a trial test. Lime reached out to the city of Starkville in early January and requested a test project for the scooters. This led to 25 Lime scooters placed in certain areas of the city.
“I really appreciate that we have a bike program like that in town,” Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill said. “It gives multiple ways for people to get around town.”
The city encouraged users to ride Lime scooters in the bike lanes rather than the sidewalks, due to the safety of pedestrians. Lime scooters are not available to everyone. In order to ride, participants must be 18 or older.
Lime has a local team of employees in Starkville who drops off and picks up the scooters each day. The scooters are put out at the time people begin their day, and then they are picked up at night. The scooters are put out in the downtown and midtown areas.
“It’s a great way to get around town,” Lime Operations Manager John Usury said. “It’s an easier way to tailor where we have vehicles around town. They’re easier to move scooters than bikes. We think they better serve the local community.”
Everything is based through the Lime phone application. In order to find a Lime scooter nearby, open the application on a smartphone. A map will appear showing all the available Lime vehicles in the area, as each Lime vehicle has a SIM card built in.
To unlock a Lime scooter, scan the attached QR code or manually enter the six-digit vehicle code under the QR code. The price to unlock a scooter is $1, and $0.15 every minute after to ride. Lime scooters have a maximum range of 20+ miles depending on usage.
No special license is required to operate Lime vehicles, but some states require users to have a driver’s license to operate electric scooters.
According to the office of Parking and Transit, scooters of any kind are not permitted on Mississippi State University’s campus. This includes Lime scooters.
“Scooters are not allowed on campus, and we currently have no plan to allow them,” MSU Parking and Transit Director Jeremiah Dumas said.
Since they have been introduced, the Lime scooters have become popular, especially among the students at MSU.
MSU student Eva McCormick, a junior nutrition major, rode one of these scooters and described it as entertaining.
“After riding a Lime scooter, I think they would be really fun to have on campus,” McCormick said. “However, after a little while, people may not want to pay for the ride anymore. Regardless, it was an exhilarating experience.”