Three Bird scooters were waiting for customers Thursday afternoon on Main Street near Second Avenue.
The Birds are back. After launching its electric-scooter-renting operation in Albany in 2022, the worldwide company is giving the community a shot for the second year in a row.
The city council heard a Zoom presentation from Bird representative T.J. Birkel on March 20 and approved a memorandum of understanding with Bird Rides Inc. on March 22.
Bird Rides Inc. is based in Santa Monica, Calif. It is a unit of Bird Global Inc., which has an address in Miami. The company was founded in 2017 to promote urban “micromobility” and says it has operations in big cities and small towns around the globe.
Birkel gave a phone number with a Nebraska area code but didn’t say where he was calling from. He told the council that Bird deployed 80 electric scooters in Albany last year. They recorded 12,655 rides that averaged 1.6 miles each and lasted an average of 17 minutes.
According to a company formula, one-third of Bird rides replace short car trips.
To use the scooters, riders must first download an app on their phones, assure the app that they’re at least 18, make a credit card payment, and take a short tutorial on how to use the scooters.
The local scooters are managed by a family business based in Albany, Birkel said. Mayor Alex Johnson II said he’d like the local manager present at future presentations.
The program operates at no cost to the city.
At the work session on March 20, Councilman Ray Kopczynski said he had seen scooter users that were obviously younger than 18. And Councilwoman Matilda Novak worried about young people driving scooters down the middle of the street at great speed.
City Manager Peter Troedsson pointed out that not all electric scooters are Birds.
Councilwoman Stephanie Newton asked about the company’s finances. Bird is working on becoming profitable, Birkel replied.
As of April 13, Bird’s price on the New York Stock Exchange was 18 cents per share. The company’s latest earnings report said it lost money in 2022, but the loss was less than the year before.
Birkel said Bird left “a handful” of cities since last year but was committed to continuing in Albany this year and, he hoped, for many years to come. (hh)
Kudos to the city for getting out of way and letting the private marketplace decide.
But calling this “micromobility” did get a snicker out of me.
A more accurate word is “microtoy.”
The primary purpose here is fun, not mobility or eco-friendliness.
The state did the same with a lot of drugs. Look how that’s turning out.
God forbid we have something fun. You HH regulars really are a miserable bunch.
The tiny wheels on the scooters are VERY unforgiving of cracks and potholes. The streets in our city wear out our cars. It’s just a matter of time before we see SERIOUS injuries as a result of mixing motorized scooters with the awful condition of our streets.
And you “irregulars” offer NOTHING!
They are fun!!!