The City of Bismarck is partnering with a shared electric scooter company, Bird Rides, to bring stand-up electric scooter sharing to the city. The Bird scooters have arrived just in time for spring! Bird is a naturally social distanced way to get around. The scooters are available through a mobile phone application and riders pay to use the scooter per minute, at no cost to the city. Download the Bird Company app to get started.
“We are happy to welcome Bird to the City of Bismarck and look forward to having the scooters available to our residents and visitors. I think they’ll be a great addition to our community,” said Mayor Steve Bakken. The Bismarck City Commission unanimously approved an agreement with Bird to provide rental scooters from April through the end of the year. The Commission Ordinance 6459, regarding motorized scooters at its regular meeting on Tuesday, April 27, that allows the use of Bird’s motorized scooters on the streets of Bismarck.
The company offers scooters to residents and visitors in order to help reduce carbon emissions, as well as traffic congestion on roadways. The scooters also provide a safe way to get around during the pandemic and offer residents without automobiles another transportation option.
The scooters operate on the street and in bike lanes similar to a bicycle, and would be enabled via a geofence to operate in specific areas within the community. Scooters are available to rent between 4 a.m. to midnight via a smartphone app and all users are required to be 18 years of age or over to access the scooters.
Users are encouraged to wear a helmet on every ride and required to obey all standard rules of the road. The electric scooters have a maximum speed of 15 miles per hour. Scooters must be parked out of the way of pedestrians and never blocking driveways.
“Scooters make for a useful way to bridge the gap between public transportation and a person’s home or workplace. More transportation options can bring a lot of benefit to the city,” said Gabe Schell, City Engineer.
Bird offers a variety of programs that are available for all who qualify. More information about the company can be found on their website www.bird.co and on their blog: www.bird.co/blog. If a resident has questions about the e-scooters the company can be reached directly at 1-866-205-2442 or hello@bird.co. The company has a Community Mode tool that enables anyone to easily report an issue, such as a damaged or poorly parked vehicle, directly to Bird with just a few taps in the Bird app. Learn more about it here: https://www.bird.co/blog/community-mode/.