Photo by Tyrone Turner / WAMU.

There’s been some loud griping about the electric scooters that started making their way to D.C. sidewalks this winter, but those squeaky wheels are not representative of the District’s broader feelings, according to a new survey.

About 72 percent of Washingtonians have a positive view of e-scooters, putting the city near the middle of those surveyed by Populus. The transportation data and analytics firm surveyed 7,000 people for its findings (most of those surveyed had not taken the scooters for a spin). As you can see below, D.C.’s high rate of good vibes for the two-wheelers is not unusual, per the survey.

Image courtesy of Populus.

In D.C., the first e-scooter to hit the scene was Waybots in February, followed by Lime-S and Bird the next month. With the help of a smartphone app, folks can pay $1 to unlock them and pay 15 cents per minute of use. They can reach a top speed of about 15 miles per hour.

The Atlantic dubbed them the “cargo shorts of transportation“(while begrudingly admitting that riding them was a delight), and the majority support for electric scooters gels with LimeBike’s decision in May to replace some of its dockless bikes with more Lime-S scooters, given that D.C. only allows companies to operate a total of 400 dockless vehicles.

Populus argues that e-scooter services have less of a gender gap compared to bikeshares, and women have a slightly more favorable view of scooters than men (72 percent of total women surveyed versus 67 percent of men).

Image courtesy of Populus.

The research firm attributes this to three possible theories: it’s easier to ride an electric scooter on a sidewalk (the report claims that women and others “likely do not feel safe riding bikes or scooters on the street”); traditionally female clothing like skirts and dresses are better-suited to standing on a scooter; or women are more distance-sensitive.

Gender wasn’t the only way Populus sliced the data. Support for electric scooters is higher among people with lower income, the report finds.

Image courtesy of Populus.

While two of the seven dockless bikeshare companies involved D.C.’s pilot pogram have dropped out this week, all three of the e-scooter companies are still in the game.