E-scooter company hopes new business model in Las Vegas will scoot perception

Ryan Matthey
·4 min read

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – While communal electric scooters turn pedestrian sidewalks into parking lots nationwide, a micro-mobility company riding into Las Vegas hopes a different kind of business model will change local perception.

Go X, based in San Fransisco, has officially launched its fleet of 100 e-scooters across portions of unincorporated Clark County and the City of Las Vegas. Through its app, riders can unlock scooters they find for $1 and travel at a rate of 0.88 cents a minute.

CEO Alexander Debelov argues that they’re more attractive to city government and law enforcement than other well-known scooter-sharing operations like Lime and Bird.
“There [were] a lot of other companies that were doing very similar things, and they were going into cities and being very irresponsible in the sense that they would just drop thousands of scooters on city streets and kind of let people take them anywhere,” Deblov said during a virtual interview Thursday.

<em>Some of the Go X scooters waiting for riders in Downtown Las Vegas on Thursday. (KLAS)</em>
Some of the Go X scooters waiting for riders in Downtown Las Vegas on Thursday. (KLAS)

In contrast, Go X partnered with eight valley businesses to act as homing beacons: scooters can only be picked up and dropped off at these locations. Those businesses, in return, get a commission for each ride that originates there.

If riders, who already input their payment information into the app, leave a scooter elsewhere, they can face a fine of up to $100. Debelov says their concept is already thriving across 15 cities in the U.S.

“When I come to Vegas, my options are either to walk or take an Uber ride, possibly rent a car, but that’s going to be problematic with all the parking. There’s just really not that many different options,” Debelov said, speaking about his perceived lack of transportation variety in the Vegas Valley.

Go X comes roughly five years after Nevada began to regulate electric scooters and bikes, via the 2019 passage of AB485. The law requires riders using these services to be at least 16 years of age and scooters to not exceed 20 miles per hour. It also does not require riders to hold a valid driver’s license.

<em>8 News Now Reporter Ryan Matthey test-drives the new Go X e-scooter operation outside the Las Vegas Strip. (KLAS)</em>
8 News Now Reporter Ryan Matthey test-drives the new Go X e-scooter operation outside the Las Vegas Strip. (KLAS)

Since then, local government officials have scooted past opportunities to bring new communal scooter operations in. Those currently operating here require the scooter rental to be picked up and dropped off at the same location.

A 2023 study from the Consumer Safety Commission reported a nearly 21% increase in injuries on e-bikes and e-scooters from 2021 to 2022. A majority of these injuries involved children.
So far in 2024, one 15-year-old girl has died on her e-scooter while crossing a Henderson street in February. Eight riders died in total throughout 2023. Other traffic-related fatalities have nearly doubled from this time last year in LVMPD’s jurisdiction.

Debelov argues that his scooters prevent certain dangerous situations by using the geo-fencing technology within them. Though they can reach speeds up to 15 miles per hour, the scooters will automatically reduce to as low as five miles per hour in certain zoned areas.

In other high-traffic pedestrian areas, such as Fremont Street and the Strip, the scooter will stop and alert the rider via the app. Debelov added their requirements to ride exceed what Nevada law requires.

“Before you start the ride, you have to agree to all of the terms. You need to be of a certain age. You have to confirm you have a driver’s license. You cannot ride in certain zones. In certain zones, your speed is going to be restricted. In certain zones, it will be completely shut off, and you won’t be able to go there,” Debelov said. “We want this to be a safe, great, fun, and also an incredible benefit to the city, and not the opposite.”

Go X has already endured a three-and-a-half-month trial run in unincorporated Clark County and the City of Las Vegas with intentions to grow to 1,000 scooters by the end of 2024. While the app encourages riders to travel in the street’s bike lane, it then encourages riders to avoid pedestrians if on the sidewalk.

The eight businesses partnered with Go X as of now are listed below.

  • Howard Johnson by Wyndham

  • Nirvana Hotel

  • Vegas Slingshot Rentals #1

  • Vegas Slingshot Rentals #2

  • Old Havana Cigars Lounge

  • Lock Down Escape Room

  • Strip View Café

  • XO MINI MART

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