Here’s what you’re agreeing to when you ride a Veo e-vehicle

CEDAR RAPIDS — With summer in full swing and life looking a bit more normal, the city’s bike share program — which features e-bikes e-scooters and a new addition of the sit-down e-scooter — is getting a lot of use.

The program launched three years ago, first with e-bikes. Under the program, people can check out an e-vehicle and pay over a smartphone app to ride it. The city opted not to purchases its own vehicles, said Bill Micheel, assistant director of Community Development and Planning for the city. Instead, contractor VeoRide owns them and is responsible for operations and maintenance.

Response to the bike share program has been divided since the start. Young people have embraced the program, whizzing throughout the downtown, NewBo and Czech Village districts. At the same time, the police department said it has fielded complaints this summer about the e-vehicles being ridden on sidewalks and posing a danger to pedestrians. During a special enforcement in late May, the police department said officers issued 17 citations in just one hour to riders operating e-vehicles on city sidewalks.

Most recently, a Veo scooter was involved in a crash that seriously injured two boys. On June 9, police said the boys, age 12 and 8, both were on a single scooter in the alley between 15th Street SE and Camburn Court SE when they turned onto Mount Vernon Road SE. They were struck by a westbound 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix driven by Dennis Lee Candler, 64, of Cedar Rapids, police said. The boys were not wearing helmets and did not stop at a stop sign before turning onto Mount Vernon Road, police said. While not charged in the crash, Candler was cited for driving on a suspended license and failing to provide proof of insurance.

The crash raises safety questions about the use of the e-vehicles, including how two young kids were able to check one out, what steps are taken to safeguard riders and pedestrians and, importantly, who has liability in a crash.

In an email, a VeoRide spokesperson said the company is working with city officials to determine what happened.

“The Veo team is working closely with local officials to fully investigate the accident,” the email said. “Safety is our top priority at Veo, and we are committed to ensuring our safety measures are continuously improved for all of our riders.”

Greg Buelow, the city’s public safety spokesman, said in an email that it is the rider’s responsibility to adhere to the VeoRide user agreement on restrictions and safety.

To use a Veo e-vehicle, you must create an account on the company’s app and consent to its user agreement. Here are some of its key points of that agreement:

Authorities have not commented on how the young boys gained access to the e-scooter, but Micheel said the city is “working with (VeoRide) to set up a system to improve age verification.”

“We realize that it appears people might have found ways around (the age verification), and that's one of the reasons we're working with VeoRide,” Micheel said. “We want to make it very obvious that every time you check out (a vehicle), you have to say ‘yes, I acknowledge I’ve got to be 18,’ so it's as obvious as possible. And then we are working with them to try to figure out a system to improve age verification when you make an account … and VeoRide has been receptive to that.”

The city has added age-restriction messaging to the app face, Cedar Rapids City Planner Sylvia Brueckert said.

“When you launch the app, a notification window pops up and it just says, ‘Be advised, you must be 18 years old to ride scooters and bikes,” she said.

In renting the e-vehicles, riders confirm they are “familiar with the operation of the Vehicle, and are reasonably competent and physically fit to ride the Vehicle,” the user agreement states. Riders assume “all responsibilities and risks for any injuries or medical conditions,” regardless of weather, traffic or road conditions.

“One way to think about (liability) is to think about as if you are on a personal bicycle, for example, and something occurs,” Micheel said. “Or, you know, if you're driving a car and something happens — that's one way to think about this.”

Before choosing to ride an e-vehicle, the user agreement recommends riders do a “safety check” to ensure the vehicle is in good condition. That includes checking the tires, brakes, lights, handlebars and seat, if applicable. If the vehicle shows signs of damage, the rider must not use it

VeoRide recommends riders wear helmets that have been properly sized and fitted. Regardless, the rider agrees that “none of Veo and its Released Parties … are liable for any injury suffered by You while using the Services, whether or not You are wearing a helmet at the time of injury,” the user agreement says.

Riders agree to follow all laws “pertaining to the use, riding and operation of the Vehicles, including all applicable state and local laws and the rules and regulations pertaining to the location where You are operating the Vehicle.” That includes not riding e-vehicles on the sidewalk.

Riders must agree to not use any Veo e-vehicle for racing, mountain bike riding or stunt or trick riding. Riders also agree not to operate them on unpaved roads or in water.

The user agreement also includes a lengthy list of prohibited conduct that includes:

Micheel said riders should notice some improvement to the bike share operation in the coming months. He said the city is adding more parking areas for the Veo e-vehicles and VeoRide is adding staff to better manage operations.

Comments: (319) 398-8238; kat.russell@thegazette.com.