Hitting the road on Sarasota's electric scooters

For a time, I had a running joke with an Observer colleague about the city of Sarasota. 

We have our beaches, our arts scene and more than a few snowbirds who decide to stay longer and longer every year. Ask the sun-fried beach bums out on Siesta Key, and they’ll tell you we have everything we need. 

But for some reason — in my friend’s eye — Sarasota wouldn’t be truly modern and alive unless it adopted an electric scooter program. 

It’s a fair-ish observation. Electric scooters and bicycles have become a popular mode of transportation in cities in recent years. When traffic and parking is so abysmal, can you blame anyone? Bouncing from one location to another with relative ease on a scooter is certainly appealing. 

At long last, our running joke is dead: Electric scooters and bikes have arrived.

And that begs the question: Are they cool? Are they fun? Will you crash the second you get on one? (Short answers: No, yes and probably not.)

Getting Started

While you slept, downtown Sarasota became full of scooters. You’ll notice the VEO scooters in bunches at street corners and locales across the area, and you’ll need to download the VEO app and finish a training session before being allowed to ride one.

I picked up a bicycle helmet at a local shop to protect the oversized melon I call a head. Then I started a ride with a Cosmo — the seated scooter that you’ve now seen basically everywhere, not the "Sex in the City"-preferred drink — and got to riding in downtown Sarasota’s bicycle lanes. 

How Does It Feel?

First off, these things are fast enough, but they don’t exactly speed. If you have a nice, unbothered bike lane to cruise along, you’ll be just fine. I started out in the downtown area but made my way over to the other side of town, cutting through The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota to make my way to the Ringling Bridge. 

Second, these things are heavy. They’re easy to control, so I wasn’t exactly worried about a crash, but I did have second thoughts about riding up the Ringling area in the pedestrian walking section, which is allowed but discouraged when crowded.

I took the bridge’s bike lane instead, which really made me feel both like a rebel for being so close to vehicles and also like a lazy potato for idly cruising where others were cycling hard to reach the top of the bridge.

Still, we live in a beautiful area, and the cool Sunday morning breeze hit just right when reach the top of the bridge. Highly recommended experience. 

Eventually, I made my way to St. Armands Circle and, upon remembering what a snake pit of pedestrian and vehicular traffic it usually is, decided to make a detour. 

I ended up at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, where I got some looks when parking and getting off to stretch my legs. But the sun was shining, the air felt right, and it was a good day.

After some time relaxing, I headed back to where I’d parked my car in downtown Sarasota. All in all? About 35 minutes there and back — not too bad for a morning jaunt. 

Final Thoughts

Florida state law views these new scooters as bicycles more than vehicles, so compare them accordingly. 

They’re definitely more convenient than bicycles if you’re in a low pedestrian space, and they’re simply fun to use. Part of me prefers to actually exercise with a bicycle if I’m out and about, but if you’re feeling lazy or want to make a morning date out of it, it’s a ton of fun.