These Bird scooters were parked on East First Avenue near Montgomery on Wednesday afternoon.
A month and a half after the Bird company’s electric scooters arrived in Albany, how is this experiment in “urban mobility” working out?
April 27 was the first day the scooters were available for rent in Albany. Since then, there have been only a few times when I have seen someone riding one of them. Most of the Bird scooters I see around town are sitting somewhere, ready and waiting to be rented.
I’ve not been able to find out how often the Bird scooters in town have been used, or by how many people.
But in a statement provided by its public relations manager on June 8, Bird reported, “We’ve been happy to see residents quickly adapting to the new, eco-friendly transportation option with over 6,000 miles ridden in Albany to date.”
According to the company, about 50 Bird scooters are deployed in Albany. And while most scooter trips cover less than five miles, the longest ride in Albany so far, as of June 9, went for 12.9 miles.
When the program started, some people worried about accidents because the scoooters can hit impressive speeds. But the company said it was not aware of any crashes.
I’ve not tried using one of these things myself. For one thing, when I’m on the bike, why would I need a scooter?
For another, though, I’m not sure about how to use the required app. Mine keeps saying “group ride,” which is not what I want. (hh)
Group ride. Everyone pile on, Hasso’s buying!
1). Never seen one not being ridden anywhere other than the sidewalk.
2). Never seen a rider wearing a helmet.
If the city wants to make some easy money, have APD start enforcing the laws on these riders.
CUZ SIDEWALKS ARE SAFEST !
How to ride: https://youtu.be/vNUAxOwArss
That’s close to 4,000 miles/month or 50,000 miles per year. That’s quite a few cars off the road in downtown Albany. It’ll be great to get more details about number of trips and users, but so far so good. Unfortunately not everyone owns a bike, and not everyone uses their bike like Hasso!
My friend crashed on one, when the scooter malfunctioned. Broke out her tooth, cracked ribs etc! The company was contacted. I feel they should at least be honest about crashes…
More data, more truth.
all the data, all of the truth. Right
As more data becomes available.
More we can do with it. Right.
More data. Creates more data.
Moving the human race forward.
A lot of people use scooters for fun not transportation.. no place to put any packages.
I crashed on one. Luckily I wasn’t hurt that bad, just sore & some bruising. My main issue with them is that your either on the throttle or off, you cant roll into it like a normal throttle.
I have rented one a couple of times now. Great for getting around downtown and just to have some fun. I did use sidewalks where it was reasonable (as I felt it was safer), which I know is against the rules. I did not pass any pedestrians while using the sidewalk (no peds present while riding).
I observed fellow scooter users while on my ride who seemed to be having their own joy ride and trying them out. It’s a fun activity on a nice day!
I like that I can pay for myself and another user using the group ride function. I felt like the app was really easy to install and set up. I also like that the app locates the scooters and lets you know what their battery life status.
6,000 miles is impressive and I hope these scooters stick around. I think summer time will be even more incentive to try these out!
THE BIRDS SHOULD HAVE A SIGN “NO FLIP-FLOPS !”