(Louisville Business First) - A California-based startup, Bird Rides Inc., has placed its controversial electric scooters in Louisville.
The scooters, intended to "cover the last mile," have been ill-received in some of the 20 cities in which the company has deployed, while others have welcomed the quicker means of getting around.
The company has placed motorized dockless scooters — which reach speeds of up to 15 mph — in communities across the country. The scooters can be accessed using a smartphone app, according to a news release from the company.
It costs $1 to start the ride and 15 cents per mile after.
Because they do not use docks, users can park the scooters wherever they end their ride. At the end of the day, the scooters are collected and returned to their "nests" to recharge. From there, riders can pick the scooters up to use the next morning.
As you can imagine, a 15-mph scooter isn't exactly friendly to pedestrians, and numerous accidents resulting in injury because of a lack of regulation have been reported by cities in which Bird operates. We've asked a Bird representative how many scooters they've placed in Louisville, but have not heard back.
As our sister publication Nashville Business Journal reported, the root of most cities' problems with scooter startups is tied to their initial rollout, with companies launching overnight without advance notice to city officials — so there's no chance to draft safety regulations.
For most cities, Bird and its competitors have been able to relaunch once officials established regulations around the companies' operations.
Louisville Metro Government said that although it had been working with Bird to come up with regulations, the company dropped its scooters too soon.
"City representatives had been working with Bird to prepare a safe launch of their product in Louisville and to establish measures that would protect Bird users as well pedestrians, car, TARC and bike riders alike. Bird’s launch today was premature and we encourage them to continue working with city officials to implement their product into our city’s transportation network safely and equitably,” Louisville Forward Communications Specialist Will Ford said in a release. "Bird scooters is an innovative, sustainable concept that complements the city’s goal of increasing multimodal options for residents across the city."