E-Scooters Seen As Fix For NJ Commuter Parking

MADISON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) - MADISON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) - An alternate way of getting to the train station may be just down the road in New Jersey.

Soon a select group of commuters could be powered by electric scooters, reports CBS2's Natalie Duddridge.

A transit company called Boxcar teamed up with the mayor of Madison to give people a new option for traveling a short distance from home to the train station and solve the commuter parking problem

"One way to get cars out of downtown and people onto mass transit might be electric scooters," said Boxcar SEO Joe Colangelo. "That's really our target market here in the suburbs."

Online applicants will be chosen to test out the proposal this fall.

Riders will each get a scooter for free that can go up to 15 miles on a single charge.

"We're going to require you to have a driver's license and to participate in a safety training session and to wear a helmet," said Colangelo.

Safety was one of the issues the mayor wanted to tackle before green lighting the pilot program.

"One of our council members was in China and talked about the fact that they have a share program and that their scooters were all over the place, and he was concerned," said Madison mayor Robert Conley.

Boxcar says it will build a secure storage facility inside the train station.

When users return, they can ride it home, keep it overnight and charge it back up.

Boxcar hopes to expand to 20 different New Jersey towns by summer 2019.

To take part in the e-scooter program, visit boxcarapp.com/scooters.