They’re affordable and readily available. They reduce traffic congestion and provide flexible mobility without contributing to the state’s destructive air-quality crisis, and frankly, they’re fun. Electric-assist bikes and electric-powered scooters—e-bikes and e-scooters—are taking over Utah from the streets of Salt Lake City to the paths of Summit County. What could possibly go wrong?
Do the Side Hustle!
Bird Charging and Lime Juicing
Dockless e-scooters need to be charged from time to time, and therein lies the opportunity to increase your earning potential. Using the Bird or Lime app, switch into charging mode to see a map with scooters that need some juice. The closer a scooter is to empty, the more you can earn. Take a scooter home, plug it in, drop it off in a hot spot and enjoy your extra income.
For starters, things may have gotten too big too fast for the supply and demand balance. Two e-scooter companies, Lime and Bird have made scooters under riders zipping around the streets ubiquitous in Salt Lake City. Because the e-scooters don’t require a fixed charging station, they’re also littered across sidewalks, lawns and parking lots. Park City introduced the country’s first entirely e-assist bike share program, Summit Bike Share, in 2017. The program has been wildly successful by most metrics with riders racking up in excess of 100,000 miles, translating to roughly 17,500 trips from Kimball Junction to Main Street. In a municipality where the two primary concerns are traffic and parking, that’s no small feat, yet at peak times during the summer docking stations are frequently low on inventory.
Little public consensus exists on how and where to ride. It’s illegal, for example, to ride e-assist devices on sidewalks , but that hasn’t stopped riders from doing so. State code prohibits e-scooters from being used on roads with speed limits over 25 mph, which includes many of the Salt Lake City streets in which they’re currently popular. Revising the code to meet the standards set for bikes—30 mph speed limit and four or fewer lanes unless a bike lane is present—would help eliminate the contradictions between regulation and practical use.
Bird and Lime require both require users to upload a valid driver’s license to confirm they’re a minimum of 18 years age, though e-bike shares, including Summit Bike Share, do not. It’s hard to say whether users are purposely sidestepping regulations or are simply unaware of laws governing e-scooter and e-bike use, and authorities throughout Utah have prudently supported education over heavy-handed enforcement thus far.
“It’s a classic case of innovation outpacing regulation,” says Jason Hargraves, insurance expert and managing editor for insurancequotes.com. Hargraves notes the dangers of having such a litigious society in which thousands of people are operating in an insurance blind spot within a regulatory gray area. Users agree to “binding arbitration” before using e-bikes and scooters, which leaves them with little to no legal recourse in the event they’re injured.
“For most two-wheeled vehicles that travel over 30 mph operators are required to carry liability insurance. Most e-scooters and e-bikes top out between 15-20 mph, so there’s no regulatory definition for them Homeowner’s and renter’s insurance won’t cover users, and auto insurance is typically only for four-wheeled vehicles. Currently the best protection comes from having your auto insurance provider write up a special policy,” Hargraves adds.
Beneath the surface a public health issue is growing. Though no national data exists on e-scooter injury numbers, reports from health care providers suggest a surge in associated accidents, and many users aren’t wearing helmets. Helmet-share programs present a logistical nightmare involving hygiene, fit, theft and more, and riders aren’t bringing their own. Both Bird and Lime have distributed tens of thousands of free helmets to protect riders’ gray matter, but they’re also lobbying against helmet laws that would limit ridership. San Francisco is proactively confronting the issue through Vision Zero Injury Prevention Research to study, quantify and ultimately eliminate traffic injuries including those related to e-bikes and e-scooters. Officials in Utah would be wise to emulate the Bay Area’s safety efforts.
Despite the issues, e-scooter and e-bike use isn’t slowing down any time soon. The industry has become so profitable that Ford jumped into the ring, spending a reported $100 million to purchase the relatively small e-scooter company Spin in late 2018. Ford apparently sees the profitability in collecting data on scooter-share users. When was the last time unencumbered corporate data aggregation went wrong?
Both Salt Lake City and Park City have been urging people to ditch their cars, and take public transportation, which when coupled with innovative mobility programs means more people can get where they’re going, with less congestion and environmental burden. Commuters are doing their part, and it’s time our municipal governments catch up to the e-bandwagon to help work out the kinks.
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Inspired by @oldsaltlake, we're celebrating #throwbackthursday with a favorite snapshot of early 20th century Salt Lake City. 🏖️
Photos shared by @oldsaltlake are inspiring millennials and zoomers decades later with visions of a different city: one with easily accessible public transportation, walkable streets, local businesses (open late) and distinctive architecture.
See more photos at the link in our bio.
Pictured: Women relax at what is believed to be Saltair Beach, date unknown...
It's like sunshine in a box ☀️
Even after losing her job during the pandemic, Mandy Madsen didn't lose her good cheer. She put her energy into creating @maddoughslc, selling unique doughnuts inspired by the nostalgia of your favorite childhood treats.🍩
Read our Q&A with Mandy at the link in our bio!...
@saltlakeclimbers are part of a long legacy of dirt baggers fascinated with the soaring granite walls of Little Cottonwood Canyon. They recently finished the Alpenbock Loop, creating an accessible, sustainable trail and preserving access to one of Utah's greatest recreational resources. 🧗♀️
Read more at the link in our bio! ❤️...
The bad news: Utah's inconsistent winters are hurting local bee populations. The good news: You can be a part of saving the bees in the beehive state 🐝
@deserethivesupply, a family-owned business in Ogden, is helping bees bounce back with educational classes that encourage people to pick up backyard beekeeping as a hobby.
Read more on how to save Utah bees at the link in our bio!...
Why did Utah's only Titanic passenger not survive her journey?
The descendants of Irene Corbett believe that the 30-year-old teacher sacrificed her life to save others. It's one of the many ways this remarkable figure bucked tradition and forged her own trail.
Read more about Irene at the link in our bio!...
"We must have done something right, cause you guys kept coming back."
@bluepelatedinerslc, one of Salt Lake's signature spots for everyone from hungover college kids to vegan food lovers, will be closing its doors this May after more than two decades of service. It's the latest casualty in a brutal year for the restaurant industry.
Head to the link in our bio for a tribute to Blue Plate Diner. (And keep supporting your favorite local restaurants. ❤️)...
A business is never more than the sum of its people: the ones who meet you, greet you, help you make the smartest purchase decisions.
Meet the people who make Salt Lake City work:
Lindsay Breinholt, CNM / WHNP @skinspiritslc
Amy Crawley, Founder @parkwayavenuedesign
Candice Itokazu, General Manager @luciennesalon.medspa.boutique
Tobi Roberts, CEO & Co-Founder @citycreekmortgage
Dave Turja, General Manager @kengarff
Read all of these Utah Faces & Places at the link in our bio! ❤️
#sponsored...
Tony Caputo, a food evangelist and founding father of today’s SLC food community, passed away last night.
Tony started @caputosmarket in 1997, bringing his passion for the cuisine of his heritage to Utah tables. Most days during the lunch rush you’d find Tony behind the counter slicing meat and cheeses and then, after it wound down, holding court out front. He’d often rush back behind the counter and holler over his shoulder, “you have to try this!" only to return with a sample bite of veiny cheese, a paper-thin leaf of prosciutto or a perfectly crisp amaretti cookie that he’d recently added to his menagerie of taste. For his many contributions to Salt Lake City, we awarded Tony with a Lifetime Achievement Dining Award in 2007.
Today, we're sending love to @caputosmarket and the many people whose lives were touched by Tony. A full tribute is on our website now. ❤️...
Why is the Pleasant Grove theme park Evermore suing one of the most powerful women in music? Long story short: a playground for those who would choose lore over folklore is taking on Taylor Swift over the name of her most recent album. Both parties have their reputation on the line in a battle of undercover Swifties and novelty mug disputes. Will Evermore hit the gold rush? Or did they cross the wrong mad woman? The full story is at the link in our bio....
Even in the exploration boom of the 1800s, nobody dared to explore the terrain flowing through the Green and the Colorado Rivers.
That is, nobody until Major John W. Powell said the 19th Century equivalent of “Hey man, hold my beer while I try this.”
Read more about his dangerous expedition at the link in our bio!
Photo of Powell’s expedition courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division...
Whose mouth is watering? 🙋♀️😋
@granarybakehouse_slc is a small, immaculate and intimate 9th and 9th bakery with some of the best laminated pastry in town. (That means golden flakes that get all over your car because you can’t wait until you get home to take a bite.)🥖🥐🧈
Read more about Granary Bakehouse at the link in our bio! ❤️...
A brand new issue of Salt Lake magazine is coming your way!
We can't wait to share these stories with you. This issue includes our annual Blue Plate Awards celebrating those surviving and thriving in the restaurant biz. Plus, we take a road trip to Wyoming and ask why the only Utah passenger on the Titanic didn’t survive her journey.
A note from our editor Jeremy Pugh, including beautiful tributes to Mary Brown Malouf from our friends in the community, is online now. Read more at the link in our bio ❤️
Subscribers: Look for this issue in your mailbox soon. The magazine will be on newsstands March 1! 📬...
Today, we are thrilled to announce the winners of the 2021 Blue Plate Awards! 🎉
These prizes honor the growers, food evangelists, grocers, servers, bakers, chefs, bartenders and restaurateurs who do more than put good food on the table—they make our community a better place to live. This year, just surviving as a local business deserves an award, but each of our Blue Plate winners did more than that. They made us grateful for every person involved in the essential act of feeding us. 🍽
At the link in our bio, we have the full list of winners, a celebration of feats of COVID creativity and a tribute to restaurants we lost this year. If you’re hungry for more, pick up a copy on newsstands March 1! Plus, check out our Instagram for spotlights on some of the Blue Plate winners.
This year’s Blue Plate Awards are the first without our beloved Executive Editor Mary Brown Malouf. We dedicate them to her, our town’s biggest food fan, critic and champion. xoxomm 💙...
2021 Blue Plate Award winner: @ricobrandut for Staying in Beansness
Last summer, it seemed that Rico would be another victim of rapid gentrification in Salt Lake. Luckily, Rico was able to find a new home in Poplar Grove and now plans to add even more employees. It’s a last-minute happy ending for a community leader who literally wears his mission on his sleeve, courtesy a tattoo in bright red block letters: “pay it forward.” 💙...
2021 Blue Plate Award Winner: @spicekitchenincubator for Keeping the Spice Flowing
This year Spice Kitchen Incubator, already an essential resource for refugees, became, well, even more essential. 💙...
2021 Blue Plate Award winner: @thestore_utah for Special Deliveries
As grocery delivery becomes the new norm, The Store offers a personal touch that only an independent grocer can provide. Last March, high-risk and elderly customers began calling in their grocery lists over the phone, and The Store’s general managers personally delivered food to their homes. 💙...
2021 Blue Plate Award winner: @cucinaslc for Preserving Neighborhood Connection
Cucina’s outdoor spaces became a place where the neighborhood could gather safely. Owner Dean Pierose offered free coffee in the mornings and encouraged his regulars to linger and commiserate together, preserving a semblance of society during a socially distanced time. 💙...
2021 Blue Plate Award winner: @fisherbrewing for Creative Canning
This year, Fisher found ways to utilize their beer, taproom space and canning capabilities for good. They created special lines of limited edition beers in custom cans to help raise funds for local businesses struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic. 💙...