The Municipal Services Committee met 02/07/2022. One of the items they took up was the request to approve a Memorandum of Understanding with Bird Rides, Inc. to initiate a Dockless, Stand-up Electric Scooter Pilot Program for 2022.
Director of Public Works Paula Vandehey told the committee that at the end of the pilot program last year, her department had shared both the positive and negative feedback they received regarding the Bird scooters. In response to that feedback, they thought they would try a second pilot program that would attempt to address the main concerns they had received.
One of the concerns they had received was about scooters being parked right in the middle of the sidewalk on bridges. If someone was in a wheelchair and halfway across the bridge they ran into a scooter, they would have no other option other than to go all the way back the way they had come. The new pilot program would include geofencing of the bridges so that people would not be able to end their rides on them. Inside any area that was geofenced off, a rider would not be able to have their credit card turn off the ride which would be a good incentive to not stop the scooter there.
Another issue was frustration about where scooters were parked, so in the new pilot, Bird would create some priority parking places and give riders a reduction in the cost of their ride if they park in those locations.
Another concern was the use of Bird scooters on College Avenue, so the city would be looking at conducting more enforcement. Beyond that, Bird would reduce the maximum speed on College Avenue from 15 mph to 12 mph.
She said that the city would also receive $0.10 per ride. That revenue would be used to offset the cost of education and enforcement efforts conducted by the Police Department.
Alderperson Brad Firkus (District 3) asked if there was any idea on where the preferred parking zones would be.
Director Vandehey answered that they would be looking at creating them Downtown. She mentioned that Lawrence University was interested in having some areas, so the city would be working with them if the Common Council approved this second pilot.
Alderperson William Siebers (District 1) said it was his assumption that scooter riding on sidewalks, specifically on College Avenue, was prohibited.
Director Vandehey said that scooters have to follow the same ordinances that bicycles do in Appleton. Bicycles are allowed on sidewalks throughout the city except for on College Avenue from Drew Street to Richmond Street.
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) asked if the ride rates would be the same for this pilot program as they were for the first pilot program.
Director Vandehey said that was not a part of Bird’s agreement with the city.
For the purposes of making sure it was clear to the public, Alderperson Chad Doran (District 15) asked for clarification on what was meant by geofencing the bridges. Would people still be able to ride across bridges with the scooters?
Director Vandehey confirmed that riders would be able to cross bridges on scooters. They just wouldn’t be able to end their rides on bridges.
Alderperson Doran also wanted more details on the plan to not allow groups of more than 10 scooters. Had the city had problems with large group rides last year that prompted that change?
Director Vandehey clarified that the prohibition wasn’t on the number of people riding together but rather on the number of scooters deployed together in the same area at the beginning of each day. She said that during the first pilot Houdini Plaza might have had 20 scooters deployed in it, but they want to try to make sure the scooters weren’t all bunched together and that they were better spread out throughout that district.
Alderperson Doran also wanted to know if the city had had discussions with other e-scooter companies and what would their plans be should another scooter company, in addition to Bird, want to do business in Appleton.
Director Vandehey said that no other scooter company had contacted her about doing a pilot in Appleton. She speculated that perhaps they didn’t think Appleton could handle more than one scooter company given the number of people and the scooter usage we have here. She didn’t know how the city would respond if another company wanted to do business. If that happened, she mentioned the possibility of the city going through a Request for Proposal process and going with whatever company submitted the best proposal. She said that assuming the Council would want to move forward with e-scooters after the end of this pilot program, there would be some decisions to make.
Bird, Inc representatives Michael Cavuto and Adam Blau appeared remotely at the committee meeting and were available to answer questions, but they did not have anything to add to what Director Vandehey reported to the committee and thought she covered things well.
The committee had no further questions and they voted 5-0 to approve the second pilot program.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=922395&GUID=3FA36DA5-7610-4573-8B63-EE3B043367A2
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