CARTHAGE, Mo. — A unique transportation option in Carthage is expanding its options for a short time.
It’s an experience the parks and rec department hopes people will find appealing about the city.
“I noticed how convenient it was to ride a scooter,” said Freddie Hernandez, Scooter User.
Freddie Hernandez has his own scooter now but it wasn’t long ago when the transportation option in Carthage first caught his eye.
“I noticed one of the Lime scooters at actually this Central Park here, and tried it out, thought it was great, and it was actually a lot easier than I was expecting,” said Hernandez.
After a 6-month trial period last summer, Lime Scooters have been back in Carthage since April but they’ll soon be seen in more spots around the city.
Riders will no longer need to pick up and drop off in the same location.
“You’ll be able to pick up a Lime at the designated parking hubs, ride it to the destination you want, park it there, leave it there, and use it either recreationally or for transportation,” said Peterson.
A large boundary surrounding the city will be in place but city staff wants to open the scooters up to be used throughout the entire city, not just on select routes.
“The city will be wide open for scooters. There will still be some slow zones and some no-ride zones,” said Peterson.
Hernandez says the Lime Scooters are similar to his, where they can hold a charge for several miles.
“I enjoy these because, on a single charge, these can go up to 15, 16 miles distance, and that’s pretty much everywhere I need to go within the Carthage radius,” said Hernandez.
“On the back end through the GPS system, we can see all the data on every scooter. We recognize where Lime’s start, where they finish, we look at it on a daily basis,” said Peterson.
City officials want anyone who uses them during that time to give some feedback to the parks and recreation department.
The Lime app shows it generally costs $1 to start the rental, then about $.38 per minute of use.
“We hope people have a good experience riding Lime’s in Carthage, whether that’s recreational, transportation, whatever use they find,” said Peterson.
We expect some challenges to arise as we move through this test. During this process, if you would like to provide feedback or have questions, please email Chelsea Cholley at c.cholley@carthagemo.gov or call the Park office at 417 237 7035. When the test period is complete, we will evaluate the feedback, and community-wide Lime use to develop a plan moving forward.
