The Bird Scooters that are littered throughout Denver and DU are revolutionizing the way that people travel. It has never been so convenient, cheap and eco friendly to get around the city.
Every few blocks, there are scooters waiting to be ridden. In order for someone to use these battery operated scooters, you have to be eighteen years of age or older, and after downloading the Bird app, it scans your driver’s license. You have to pay an upfront one-time fee of $1, and once you begin riding, it charges 15 cents per minute. The $1 fee goes towards city governments to use the money for building bike lanes and to promote safe riding.
Bird was very wise, and really honed in on the safety aspect. All scooters are picked up at dusk by a “charger” — you can become a charger through their website and get paid to pick up the scooters at night, charge them at your residence then drop them off in the morning.
An entire tab on their website is devoted to safety. Most scooters go about 15 mph, but Bird tells you to wear a helmet and even offers to send you a free helmet. What’s really cool about this is that Bird will ship a helmet to you if you request it; you just pay for the shipping. They’ve already sent out over 30,000 helmets. The website also specifies on where to park, where to ride, the rules of the road and adds emphasis on using caution.
As with anything, Bird does face criticism. There are the few people who abuse it and irresponsibly ride the scooter and throw caution to the wind. Regardless, the benefits of Bird far outweigh the downsides.
One of the most common complaints from people are that Birds are placed inconveniently, such as sitting in the middle of the sidewalk. A quick solution is to create Bird stations every few blocks, comparable to bike racks. The potential Bird Scooters has is tremendous, and if the trend continues, we could advance to having scooter lanes to optimize safety and reduce pollution in the process.
To all the naysayers, just test it out for once. Don’t criticize it until you’ve experienced it, because once you hop on, there’s no going back.
