We’ve seen them all over the country, even as close as Tampa.

Now, e-scooters are officially rolling into downtown St. Petersburg.

“We wanted to make sure we got it right and to make it work the best that it can, and that involved a lot of research and waiting for other cities to try it,” said Evan Mary, transportation and parking management director.

The program kicked off one week ago with 300 scooters.

It is now up to 350 scooters, with the hope to add more.

“We really like to just provide more options for people to choose from, not everybody will want to ride a scooter and that’s OK. But it’s just one of the many ways they can choose to get around in our downtown,” said Mory.

Scooters must be picked up and dropped off from one of dozens of corrals around town between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

E-scooters are limited to 15 miles per hour, and can only be ridden in bike lanes and on trails.

“We have very crowded sidewalks already with people walking, sidewalk cafes, we do allow biking on sidewalks, and that causes issues sometimes. So we didn’t want to compound that with a scooter that is generally going to go faster than people can ride a bike,” said More.

And with 2,000 rides clocked in the last week, it’s safe to say the community is already on board.

“It’s more convenient for me, and I like riding outside anyway,” said St. Pete resident Curtis Williams.

“Anybody who doesn’t have a car or is underage to have a license, they can use the scooters,” said St. Pete resident Makayla Brown.

The city will test drive the program for 18 months, adding as many as 1,500 scooters along the way.

One dollar per scooter per day will go back to the city, and Mory says that money will go back into the infrastructure of downtown St. Pete.

They are estimated to generate nearly a quarter of a million dollars in revenue each year.