When moving into Bucknell this year, I decided to bring my bicycle with me; unlike last year when I lived close to the ELC and the busyness of campus, now I live further and am slightly more disconnected. Not only is a bike ride a nice way to get outside, but it’s also a huge time saver when traveling across campus for meetings, classes or other chores/errands. In addition, because of the ease of transportation, the time aspect of biking is surely a stress reliever and makes my days much more enjoyable. 

So now every morning, I unlock my bike from its rack and I ride over the ELC to get breakfast and start my day. And the ride is beautiful. Now that it’s fall, trees have vibrant colors of orange, red and yellow; the wind kicks up twisters of fallen leaves; and the cold air is sharp yet simultaneously refreshing. But this tranquil morning ride is always hampered when I arrive at my destination.

Every time I walk my bike over to a rack by the ELC, there is always an electric scooter standing up with its little kickstand blocking the entrance – making it extremely inconvenient and very frustrating to wiggle the hunk of metal and rubber into a spot. Electric scooters are obnoxious. I’m sorry, but it had to be said. If you ride an electric scooter and leave it right in front of the entrance for bikes to roll through and park, you are simply making everyone else’s morning inconvenient. And I don’t really understand why. If you were to roll it like four feet in one direction and stand it up there, it’s the exact same thing except now you’re being considerate of others. 

Bucknellians talk about the car parking space chaos on campus, but no one ever mentions the scooter narcissist crisis at the bike racks. Scooter narcissism is a real thing. Just because your scooter is electric and has a key and a little kickstand doesn’t mean you have the right to block all other bicycle parking spaces. And sure, this is a niche discussion, but it is a discussion nonetheless and on something that impacts other Bucknellians as well. So all I could ask for is for you scooter narcissists to simply move your stationary scooters out of the way from blocking bicycles. Do your part and move your scooter.