Bird isn’t the word amid city decision to confiscate electric scooters
Among newer modes of transportation in Richmond like bike sharing and motorized skateboards, VCU students have been riding electric scooters throughout the city for the past several weeks.
Vehicle-sharing company Bird has been placing the scooters around the City of Richmond — apparently without permission.
After the Department of Public Works ordered the confiscation of the scooters twice, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney tweeted to the rental company. On Aug. 17 he wrote, “Hey @BirdRide! I like these scooters. How about we get our teams around the table and make this work the right way?”
Bird brand scooters, as well as bikes in some areas, can be found in more than 30 cities across the U.S. and internationally in Paris, France and Tel Aviv, Israel. The company spoke with officials from the mayor’s office on Aug. 21 to initiate the process of making them legal in the area.
A spokesperson for the mayor of Richmond said Bird scooters will remain illegal in the area for the time being, meaning the city will continue to confiscate the vehicles as they come across them. Bird will need to file an ordinance and permits to be approved by the city before the scooters will be free to stay.
Bird’s service is provided through a mobile app. The app allows users to find available electric vehicles in the area — since they are dockless, they can be parked virtually anywhere and unlocked for the user’s enjoyment. The app also has tutorials for riding the vehicle, instructions on where to park and how to lock it when finished.
According to the company’s founder and CEO Travis VanderZanden, Bird’s scooters and bike sharing service is part of an initiative to promote clean transportation. The company’s website features a Save Our Sidewalks — or “S.O.S.” — pledge, which details Bird’s promise of daily pickups for vehicles in need of maintenance and repairs, responsible growth in the cities they are located in and revenue-sharing with the local governments they’re partnered with.
“We have an unprecedented opportunity to reduce car trips — especially the roughly 40 percent of trips under two miles — thereby reducing traffic, congestion and greenhouse gas emissions,” VanderZanden said in an open letter to CEOs of other vehicle-sharing services.
One of these other services is Lime, another scooter and bike-share company with open job listings in the Richmond area, potentially suggesting an appearance of their competing vehicles as well.
Discussion and voting on Bird’s services have not been listed in Richmond City Council agendas for at least the next month.
Logan Reardon, Contributing Writer
