If you’ve been to any major city, you’ve seen them — the motorized bikes whipping around the sidewalks and streets, the tourists who don’t know how to operate them, and the locals who have clearly stolen one to keep as their own. Electric bikes and scooters seem to have taken over every major city in the United States and across the world.
As sure as any driver or pedestrian, they’re slightly annoying. That’s not to say they aren’t energy-efficient, time-efficient, and cost-efficient for those who use them in place of a bus or a car, because they are. However, one TikTok video has brought awareness to a major problem with these electric wheels.
Julia, who lives in Chicago, went on her morning walk by the water and made it her mission to count how many Divvy bikes and scooters she saw at the bottom of the lake. In her 40-second video, she counted 18 bikes and scooters, some of them even in large piles.
At the end of the video she asked what we are all thinking; How does that even happen?
Well, people in the comment section have some ideas. Some people say it’s because people park electric bikes and scooters way too close to the edge of the water so they end up falling in. One person said that riding on the lakefront can be dangerous, as slipping on a bike can throw a person — and the bike — into the lake. It’s highly unlikely, however, that those possible incidents accounted for all 18 bikes.
Most people, though, are just confused. One person pointed out that the fee for a lost bike is $1,200, so why anyone would take the risk is insane. Another joked that electric scooters recharge electric eels, but they didn’t understand how the bikes were helping.
Several are just enraged. It’s both wasteful and inconsiderate to throw your bike into the lake. Fortunately, there are a few groups who have made it their mission to fish all of these lost bikes out of the water.
Block Club Chicago reported that a group called the Alternative Anglers Association has been working all summer long to rescue bikes for the lake. The group’s spokesperson said that they’ve pulled over 60 bikes out of 2,000 yards of lakefront over the summer, fishing out dozens every time. The drowned bikes have become a sculpture on the lakefront, hopefully to deter people from losing more of the city’s bikes in the lake.
As for Julia’s video, however, it hasn’t seemed to work yet. It sounds like Divvy needs more specific instructions on where you can and cannot park your bike — and possibly more serious ramifications for lost ones — because some people seem very, very confused.