Good Question: What happened to the public scooters and bikes in Rochester?

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Where are the scooters in Rochester? About two years ago, the city’s definition of public transportation expanded with the rollout of public bikes and scooters from the company HOPR.

Now, street corners where you used to find charging stations are empty. One of you asked us if they would come back this summer.

Public scooters and bicycles from Hopr rolled into our area in 2021. Porcha writes: “What happened to the motor scooters that used to be all over the city? I used to see the charging stations/pads on the corner of Arnett and Warwick (same corner of Arnett library) but not anymore.”

Last summer, there were bikes and scooters near the Arnett Library. Now, there are none. The City of Rochester says its contract with HOPR ended earlier this year. The HOPR scooters and bikes are gone but a new provider is coming to town.

The new vendor is called Veo Micromobility, confirmed by the city and public transportation advocacy group Reconnect Rochester. The company had success in Syracuse for a couple of years.

News10NBC reached out to Veo about when the community could start seeing scooters and bikes on the roads. The company says details and a launch date are coming soon. If Veo sounds familiar, the company has scooters and bikes in major cities across the country including Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and Seattle.

The city says we can expect to learn more about the launch of Veo in Rochester in the coming weeks. The company will offer a standing scooter and a seated e-bike.

There will be up to 700 scooters and bikes across the city once they’re all deployed. For the scooter, it will cost $1 to unlock, then 33 cents per minute after that. For the bike, it will also cost a dollar to unlock, then 36 cents per minute while you ride.

Veo will offer a $5 riding credit during the initial launch period.

If you have a good question, send it to us at goodquestion@whec.com