Are scooter rentals ever coming back to Bradenton? Here’s the latest
Nearly two months after they were removed from the streets ahead of Hurricane Ian, Bird’s rental scooters in downtown Bradenton remain unavailable.
Following reports of widespread issues, such as high speeds and scooters operating outside of the areas they were allowed, city officials blocked Bird from restoring the rental service until the issues are resolved. In a public meeting Wednesday, Bradenton City Council said the company still has a long way to go.
“I want to get to a point where they understand that if it doesn’t work, they understand it’s a blessed release,” said Mayor Gene Brown.
In a recent demonstration by Bird representatives, Brown said the company failed to show that it had corrected the problems city officials asked them to address.
“They were 0-for-5 on things that they said should work but didn’t,” Brown explained.
Bird’s business model allows people to use their smartphones to grab a parked scooter and pay a fee to ride around town before returning it to a parking space. The program launched in Bradenton this summer with about 200 scooters in the area.
A local Bird representative was not present at Wednesday’s meeting. In a statement provided to the Bradenton Herald Friday morning, the company said it is working to address Bradenton’s complaints and looks forward to providing its scooter rental services again soon.
“We used this pause in operations to work through some early learnings and build a program best suited for the city that included adding parking corrals, tweaking the boundaries of the operating zone and adjusting speed limits,” said Bruno Lopes, a government partnership representative with Bird. “We are in the final stages of implementing those learnings and look forward to relaunching soon.”
Lopes said the company is ready to restart its scooter rentals as soon as Bradenton gives the green light, but officials said they want to install physical parking corrals throughout the city first.
City officials criticize Bird scooter launch
Complaints rolled in quickly following Bird’s launch of the rental scooter program. Council members said they heard from residents who were concerned about the speed of the motorized scooters and witnessed them in places where the city had specifically said they should not be allowed.
“I was most unhappy when it came to the geofencing not working but then also being told that they didn’t abide by our wishes,” said Councilwoman Marianne Barnebey. “No. No. I will never vote for them again if that is not fixed.”
“I do not believe in rewarding disrespectful behavior,” she added.
Councilman Bill Sanders also criticized city administration for not shutting down the scooter rental program as soon as they learned about the issues.
“There’s going to be some things we need to give them an opportunity to work through,” Brown suggested.
“It’s not their first rodeo,” Sanders shot back.
Bird, which is based in Santa Monica, California, operates in hundreds of cities across the globe. The company has become an industry leader in scooter rentals, but in October, the company announced that it would exit three European countries as well as “several dozen” small or mid-sized cities in the United States.
“We are saddened by not being able to continue to support those customers who have come to rely on Bird electric scooters and bikes as their first choice for transportation,” Bird wrote in a blog post on the company website.
Will Bird fix its rental scooter program?
Bradenton leaders provided a set of demands for Bird to comply with before rentals in the city may resume. Those changes include capping the top speed citywide to 10 mph, banning the scooters from entering certain parts of the city and installing marked corrals for the scooters to be parked.
City Attorney Scott Rudacille also plans to send a letter warning Bird that the city may move to terminate the company’s operating agreement if the issues are not resolved. Bradenton chose the company as the sole operator of scooter rentals earlier this year, but the city could decide to move forward with a different vendor in the future.
“I was less than impressed with their rollout,” said City Administrator Rob Perry, who pressed Bird to address the parking corrals quickly. “I want to know who’s going to do them, how they’re going to do them and when they’re going to do them.”
The parking corrals could come in the form of painted stripes on city sidewalks or physical storage areas, but it’s unclear how soon Bird will be able to install them.
Other city officials were more sympathetic. Councilwoman Jayne Kocher expressed concern about the complaints she has received but also said she supported giving Bird more time to right its wrongs.
“I’m not ready to kill the program. I’d like to see it through,” said Kocher.
This story was originally published November 18, 2022 at 5:50 AM.
