Bird scooters promise to make Salisbury errands more fun

By Liz Holland
Posted 6/8/21

Bird electric scooters have landed in Salisbury, offering visitors and locals a fun way to get around Downtown.

They also have other benefits, Mayor Jake Day said as a truckload of scooters …

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Bird scooters promise to make Salisbury errands more fun

Posted

Bird electric scooters have landed in Salisbury, offering visitors and locals a fun way to get around Downtown.

They also have other benefits, Mayor Jake Day said as a truckload of scooters arrived in front of the Government Office Building.

“These scooters do more than provide fun rides and wind through your proverbial hair,” he said. “They help our city reduce carbon emissions as well as traffic congestion.”

The mayor and other city officials took turns on one of the scooters, riding along Division Street at the top speed of 20 mph.

E-scooters are new to Salisbury, but the city once had a popular bike share vendor in town. Spin pulled its distinctive orange bicycles off the streets in the summer of 2018 after the company shifted to scooters. At the time, city officials didn’t want to offer scooters.

While it was in town, Spin riders logged 15,000 rides, 6,000 unique riders and 16,000 miles ridden in the less than five months of operations. 

Day said bike share programs have “gone by the wayside” in favor of scooters.

Renting a scooter is easy through the Bird app available on both Android and Apple devices. After downloading the app, users will get a quick tutorial, set up payment plans or choose pay-per-ride and will thereafter be eligible for the service.

E-scooters are generally treated as bikes under the law and are not allowed on city sidewalks. The rules are:

  • Riders should ride in bike lanes wherever available and follow signage directing bike traffic as necessary
  • If bike lanes are not present, rider should ride with traffic flow, as far to the right as possible.
  • When interacting with other scooter riders or bikes at intersections etc., the typical rules apply. I.e, riders should yield to the right at stop signs etc.
  • When interacting with pedestrians, scooters must legally yield to the pedestrian at all times

Parking the Bird scooters

  • The scooters are dockless so they may be parked around the city, within reason.
  • The preferred parking locations are known as "Nests" and are designated within the app. There may be accompanying signage at the Nest as well, further highlighting the preferred location. As the system grows, additional Nests will be designated around the City. These are the locations where the local Fleet Manager will reallocate charged scooters to regularly.
  •  If no Nest is available, scooters may be parked in grass strips and furnishing zones (the space between the street and sidewalk) or other available public space provided City sidewalks are not obstructed, wheelchair ramps remain unblocked and no driveways or other private property access is denied by the scooter's placement.

 In case of any problems with a scooter or to report a scooter that is improperly parked or blocking access, contact the company through the Bird app. If using the app, activate community mode by selecting the triangular icon in the lower left of your screen (when in app) and follow the on-screen prompts to report the issue. 

Anyone who doesn’t have the app installed may contact Bird via phone at 1-866-205-2442, or email hello@bird.co. Both are continuously monitored and the local fleet manager will respond within two hours.

Bird is a private company, and the city is not responsible for managing and relocating Bird's fleet.

Special pricing is available for select groups including low-income, military and veterans and others.

For more information about Bird scooters in Salisbury, visit https://bike-salisbury.hub.arcgis.com/pages/bird.

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