Your favorite childhood activity is a legitimate form of transportation. Bird scooter-sharing landed in Nashville.
BIRD SCOOTER-SHARING. IS IT HERE TO STAY?
Your favorite childhood activity just became a form of legitimate transportation. Bird, a start-up based out of California and founded by a former exec at Uber, has landed in Nashville and it’s a pretty cool idea. Like the bicycles in Boston and Washington, D.C., Bird brings rentable scooters to the downtown areas of major cities. The scooters can be rented for a relatively small sum (somewhere along the lines of $1 + $0.15 per minute) and can be picked up and dropped off anywhere in the downtown-area.
The company’s mission is to reduce emissions and shorten commutes. On the outside, it appears affordable, quick, convenient, and environmentally friendly. It sounds perfect, right? Maybe so…until we consider potential liability and a rocky start.
BIRD HAD A TOUGH START IN OTHER CITIES
The City of San Francisco, for example, alleges that the scooters cause a danger to pedestrians when left arbitrarily on sidewalks and in storefronts. Additionally, the city said the scooters go pretty fast and are being driven on crowded sidewalks. Because of these grievances, San Francisco’s county attorney issued a cease-and-desist letter to Bird, giving them a date by which they must regulate themselves using helmets, age limits, and driver’s license requirements. Until then, the city has been impounding the scooters.
HOW WILL NASHVILLE REACT?
It’s unsure what the future will hold for the scooter-sharing service in Nashville. Given the history of regulating golf carts, it wouldn’t be surprising if Bird came before the city council by end of summer.
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It’s unsure what the future will hold for the scooter-sharing service in Nashville. Given the history of regulating golf carts, it wouldn’t be surprising if Bird came before the city council by end of summer.
More Information
about the scooter battle
→ Bird: An electric scooter rental service.
→ 5/8/2018 | Metropolitan Nashville, Department of Law
Metro Nashville to Bird: Cease and Desist Letter
→ 6/6/2018 | via The Tennessean
Nashville to Bird: Remove all scooters from city rights-of-way by end of Wednesday or face impounding
