New “micromobility” option in Toledo

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Hundreds of new bikes and scooters are hitting the streets of Toledo. It’s to help you get where you need to go faster and easier, and it all starts today.

Ben Thomas is the Regional General Manager, for Chicago-based Veo. He tells 13abc, “Toledo is an up-and-coming city. There’s a lot of investment going on in downtown, as well as the city in general.”

If you spend time in downtown Toledo, you might have seen the yellow Tole-Go bikes. They’re gone now and replaced with teal ones. Veo is the new micromobility provider, replacing gotcha and the University of Toledo’s Lime bikes. And Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz says this new partnership comes at the perfect time: just weeks ahead of the Solheim Cup.

The mayor explains, “When you think of the 150-175 thousand people that are going to be down in the core of Toledo for the better part of a week, now we have a cost-effective option that will allow people get from here to there a little better.”

The mayor says the city’s contract with gotcha expired. Now, this partnership with Veo is starting with a trial run. For the next ten months, the City of Toledo doesn’t have to pay to have the new fleet here.

“To be able to get this Cadillac service at no cost for the next year was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up,” says Mayor Kapszukiewicz. Thomas explains, “All the cost is on us to operate our own scooters and vehicles, and to operate in the city limits of Toledo.”

The mayor says at the end of the pilot period, next summer, he’ll put out a call for bids to keep micromobility here. And he’s excited to have this option for Toledo and its visitors. He explains, “You can have as good a system as you want, but public transportation very rarely takes you literally to your destination… This is already common in the European cities of the world that will be visiting us. So they will see this and be reminded of home a little bit.”

The new bikes and scooters became available to Toledoans Tuesday. There are 100 pedal bikes and 300 standing and sit-down scooters. Users must download the Veo app on the App Store or Google Play and put in their credit card information. Pricing includes $1 to unlock a scooter or bike, then pedal bikes cost 5 cents per minute, 35 cents per minute for the standing scooters, and sit-down scooters cost 40 cents per minute to ride. Veo bikes and scooters will be available on the University of Toledo main campus starting August 23.

The scooters are run by swappable batteries, which allows for more use, and they don’t have to be docked to a charging station, although users are asked to leave the scooters out of the right-of-way of streets, sidewalks, stairs, and ramps. Bikes must be locked to a bike rack to a standing object when not in use.

A detailed map of the boundaries allowed for Veo bikes and scooters is available on the Veo app. Thomas tells 13abc, “The boundary covers most of downtown, goes as far north as Sylvania Avenue, and then it goes as far west as the campus, and then you can go down to the zoo.” Mayor Kapszukiewicz says they are also available in East Toledo.

You can learn more about Veo and it’s fleet here: https://www.veoride.com/

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