Listeners of "Slater and Marjo In The Morning" had the chance to hear Pittsfield's Commissioner of Public Works, Ricardo Morales, on Tuesday share some exciting news.

Tying in with Pittsfied's future plan of a "more than just cars" city design, Morales announced the introduction of electric scooter rentals from Bird.

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A few months ago we had a national company, Bird, approach us, they want to invest in micromobility in Pittsfield. They think it's a good investment as a private company. They really don't necessarily need to approach municipalities to get going, but they want to partner with municipalities to get e-scooters on the street for rental.

This opens up the possibilities for our population to move around the city. All of the sudden, we are bridging this gap with micromobility. If you wanna get from point A to point B, you need to have a car, or you can use your bike, or walk, or call a taxi, Uber, whatever, now you have this other alternative. You can open your phone, reserve a scooter, go get it, and ride it.

These are electric scooters. The company has hired a local company for the fleet management, they're gonna have 50-75 scooters. This is coming to Pittsfield starting on April 13. 

These e-scooters for rent will be dockless, they are meant to be ridden on the streets, not on the sidewalks. They use GPS, the company handles all of this. We, the city, have entered into an agreement with them for profit sharing, so every ride will give the city 15 cents and that is basically the limit of our agreement. We can work with them on boundaries, setting boundaries moving forward, but right now, we are starting with a city-wide approach.

These e-scooters will be a single rider, you must have a driver's license and be over the age of 18 and a smartphone to unlock it. -Ricardo Morales

Bird encourages clean, car-free alternatives

Bird is passionate about vibrant communities that have less traffic, cleaner air, and safer streets.
We’re working with cities and universities across the world to provide new transportation options, complement public transit systems, and invest in safety infrastructure that benefits everyone. -bird.co

 

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