Unagi's Electric Scooter Service Comes To Chicago Suburbs

ILLINOIS — Electric scooters are growing in popularity, but residents of suburban areas still have limited access to the new type of clean-tech transit. Oakland-based company Unagi hopes to change that. It became the first e-scooter provider to supply Chicagoland last week and said its product is best for suburbanites who are "scooter-curious."

For under $50 per month, Unagi promises users their very own scooter on a more permanent basis, instead of ride-by-ride. The "All-Access" service lets users pay a flat monthly fee for unlimited ride time on the rented scooter.

Instead of parking only in Divvy and Lime capitals like Chicago proper, Unagi said it will ship to Aurora, Joliet, Naperville, Elgin, Cicero, Arlington Heights and Evanston. Subscribers are guaranteed a sleek Model-One scooter on their doorstep within 72 hours of subscribing.

Still, some Chicago aldermen and local police stations aren't fans of the motorized trend. In Algonquin and other suburbs, electric scooters have been banned from sidewalks and other pedestrian spaces, forcing them out onto the roads. A Darien alderman said he received multiple complaints last summer about children riding e-scooters above the legal speed limit.

For a machine that used to be a symbol of Silicon Valley, the price of Unagi's initiative is significantly less than other services. An annual plan comes out to $39 per month, while a pay-as-you-go plan can be about $49 per month. To permanently own a Model-One Unagi scooter costs a bit under $1000.

"Unagi doesn't ship thousands of scooters into a metropolitan area when it launches there," said company spokesperson Matt Graves in an email. "With shared scooter companies, thousands of shared scooters show up unannounced and litter the streets like a brood of cicadas. Unagi's model is much more civic-friendly; they ship one scooter for every customer in that metro area who signs up, and it's shipped directly to the subscriber. No mess, no fuss, no piles of abandoned, abused and poorly-charged scooters."

The scooter pile-ups have caused many Chicagoans to resent the machines, CBS reported.

Price includes insurance and repairs. By the company's numbers, the service would put a scooter within reach of 2 out of every 10 Americans, without factoring in financial restrictions.

Graves said Chicagoland was chosen due to its flat geography, which lets scooters travel further on a single battery charge.