In a city where automobiles rule the roads, and the stereotype of the mad Memphis driver is about as well-known as the troubles of the local transit system, life can be wearisome for the wheel-less.
Transportation insecurity can affect almost every aspect of a person’s life, and make it difficult to advance in — or even retain — a career. One organization, however, believes it’s found a winding, weaving, and, well, worldly solution to the problem: scooters.
“Scooters are the way the world gets to work,” said Andy Nix, executive director of MyCityRides. “The U.S. is an anomaly with regards to two-wheel transit. If you go anywhere else, you’ll see more bikes than cars. And we thought, why not here.”
MyCityRides is, as Nix puts it, a strange entity — a nonprofit scooter dealership that looks to provide opportunities for marginalized Memphians through reliable transportation. For $90 a month, paid over three years, one can get everything they need to zip around the Bluff City: a license, insurance, maintenance, safety and security gear, and, of course, a scooter.
To be eligible for the program, you must have a valid driver’s license, be 20 years old or older, work at least part time (or attend school full time), have a clean driving record, and be employed by your current business for 90 days or more.
The current model used by MyCityRides gets 89 miles to the gallon, and has a 169cc engine, so it can reach speeds of about 65 miles per hour. Nix cautions people against driving them on the highway — you’d max out at a speed others start at — but the vehicles are street legal, and adept at navigating through Memphis.
The scooters, he explained, can be a boon for people without cars.
“If you’re a young person [living] by [the] 38126 [ZIP code], over by FedExForum, and you land a career-tract job at FedEx at the World Tech Center in Collierville, it’s a herculean effort to get there [by car],” Nix said. “But, it’s fun to get there by scooter.”
Right now, MyCityRides has about 260 people, or “flyers” as it calls them, using their scooters in Memphis. The hope is to get 100 people on the road this calendar year — before COVID it was twice that — and the long-term goal is to have 1,000 people in the program at any given time.
“Based on our experience, that is not only achievable, but probably under-represents the demand,” Nix said. “We intend to grow rapidly and put hundreds on the road each year.”
One way the company — which plans to move from its North Cleveland Street HQ but hasn't found a new location yet — recruits participants is through partnerships with local companies. If a business signs with MyCityRides, then its employees have the chance to join the program and purchase their scooters through a payroll deduction. The partnership doesn’t cost the employer anything, and if a worker leaves the company, then the nonprofit works with that person directly.
“Administratively, it’s very simple,” Nix said. “It provides employees with reliable transportation at no-cost to the employer.”
So far, the organization has partnered with 21 businesses, including the City of Memphis and ServiceMaster by Stratos. According to Stacy McCall, the latter’s president and CEO, the new source of transportation can provide an array of opportunities for its employees.
“Mobility adds not only transportation mobility, it also provides upward mobility in the organization, because you can go to areas of more responsibility,” she said. “We can help them on that journey, and then create opportunities. If they’re mobile, they’re able to go to those opportunities that exist; that’s one of the keys for us.”
In addition to opportunity, however, Nix believes the scooters provide something more abstract. Over 80% of their customers, he explained, had never ridden any kind of motorized bike before joining the program. But, there’s something about the scooters …
“They’re approachable … friendly looking, and friendly to use,” he said. “And, last, but not least, these things are really fun."