Last month, Quickie Delivery received several warnings from the Cal Poly Police Department (CPPD) about using electric scooters on campus. According to Cal Poly’s Motor Vehicle, Parking, Scooter & Bicycle Regulations, the use of electrical motorized scooters is prohibited.
“You see people riding scooters all the time on campus…we thought it was something that would eventually just blow over and maybe remove the ban,” Quickie Co-President Will Tregenza said. “But it turns out now they’re really ready to enforce it.”
Now, Quickie Delivery created a petition to get signatures and gain support for allowing them to use e-scooters on campus.
In an email to Mustang News, Campus Spokesperson Matt Lazier said skateboards, scooters, e-scooters and other similar devices create safety issues due to Cal Poly’s campus being built on a hillside. In a separate statement from Lazier, he said CPPD is additionally not collaborating with any businesses to be an exception from the policy.
“The campus’s policy on skateboards, scooters, and e-scooters exists explicitly for the prevention of injuries and to promote the safety of all campus community members and visitors,” Lazier wrote.
On Saturday, Oct. 28, three “Quickie Flashers,” – the Quickie company name for their delivery people – were pulled over on scooters by CPPD at least one time, including Tregenza.
“Basically [the officer] said it’s pedestrian safety,” Tregenza said. “He can’t really deal with it. He said the only way to get the rule overturned is to go through President Armstrong.”
Currently, Quickie Delivery wants to work with administration to resolve the e-scooter ban, receiving help from their advisor from the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship accelerator program.
“We want to work with the school to find what they believe to be the safest option…maybe select designated routes, certain areas that we’re only allowed to go on,” Tregenza said.
Tregenza said that Quickie Flashers follow all road laws when using e-scooters and wear proper gear including helmets and high visibility vests for delivery.
According to Quickie Flasher Matthew Reis, Quickie offers better delivery services for students on campus compared to using Uber Eats or DoorDash.
“Instead of these DoorDash drivers who end up on campus, clogging the roadways, we provide them just an easy delivery system that causes less traffic on campus,” Reis said. “We are a better delivery business model for campus and limiting us to scooters, I think it’s shooting both of us in the foot.”
The continuous enforcement of the electric scooter ban caused Quickie to rely on two electric bikes to fulfill all orders going to campus, leading to longer delivery wait times.
“We only have two [e-bikes] and so we’ve had to shut down early most nights because as soon as we run out of battery in a bike, that’s about it,” Reis said, “It’s just really frustrating to use these half-broken bikes when we have all these available scooters.”
Being unable to use their preferred mode of transportation caused Quickie to close early for several nights, which affected sales and limits their goal to expand to a new campus.
“We’re going to evaluate a lot more whether [colleges] allow scooters or not and what kind of vehicles we’re going to need at that school,” Tregenza said. “But from what we understand, most campuses have already adopted and allow electric scooters.”
Tregenza wants Quickie to continue being a safe delivery option for students.
“We understand that there are limited options, especially at night on campus and that’s kind of why Quickie is so popular because we offer an alternative solution,” Tregenza said.