Municipal Services Committee Meeting 03/06/2023 – Will Receive Updates On Bird Scooter Negotiations, College Avenue Lane Reconfiguration

The Municipal Services Committee is meeting 03/06/2023 at 4:30PM. There are no action items on the agenda but there are several information items.

The first is an update on the city’s negotiations with Bird Rides Inc for an agreement for an e-scooter program. The Municipal Services Committee had been slated to vote on a 2-year agreement with Bird at the 02/23/2023 committee meeting but ended up putting the vote on hold after committee members expressed a desire to have a 1-year agreement instead of a 2-year agreement and also wanted Bird to work on curbing parking issues and underaged riders as well as potentially increase the per-ride fee the city received. Per the memo to the committee, a new agreement will be provided to the committee for a vote on 03/20/2023.

Specifically regarding the concerns about underaged riders, the memo indicates, Bird “has the ability to turn on an ID check for a couple of weeks to curb any issues and reduce the number of underage riders, if this is problem. Bird prefers not to have the ID check a permanent feature because it can be a barrier for people who do not have an ID.” [I would be interested in reviewing the actual statistics and estimates Bird has regarding the number of people impacted by an ID requirement. My understanding was that in order to ride the scooters you needed to have the ability to electronically pay for the ride, and you can’t typically get a credit card or bank account if you don’t have an ID.”

The committee will also be receiving an update on the College Avenue Lane Reconfiguration proposal. During the last committee meeting, staff proposed that the project be turned into an 18-month trial program with data collected on a number of areas to be reviewed in the spring of 2025. Although this is only an information item for this meeting, it will be coming back as an action item at the 04/05/2023 Municipal Services Committee meeting.

Finally, the committee will be receiving the Inspections Division Permit Summary Comparison Report for February 2023.

View full meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1086001&GUID=0F465277-3E38-4D90-95C8-50AA05565EF3

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