Pittsfield to Have Rental E-Scooters in April
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There will soon be a new, environmentally friendly way to get around the city.
Pittsfield is partnering with micromobility company Bird to provide a fleet of electric scooters that can be rented by the ride. Reserving one is simple: you open the company's app, scan a barcode, and you're ready to go.
"We're planning on the future of transportation for Pittsfield, we recognize that micro mobility plays a key role in that future by providing a bridge to get trips that are further away and are not quite feasible or comfortable by walking, bringing them closer," Commissioner of Public Services and Utilities Ricardo Morales said.
"And it's just another tool at our disposal as citizens of Pittsfield to use as we move on from point A to point B on our daily lives, it's just one other convenience so that we can enjoy our city."
The scooters will arrive around mid-April and will be disbursed in places where they are likely to be utilized. There will be 20 to 30 at first and 50 to 75 as time goes on.
Those with a valid driver's license can reserve a scooter at a cost of one dollar for the base ride plus 39 cents per minute.
Bird approached the city last fall looking for an opportunity to invest in micro mobility in Pittsfield. The company started a successful program last year when it reached out to municipalities to bring its products to the streets.
Pittsfield is the first community in the county to have dockless scooter implementation. It aligns with the city's goals of becoming a multi-modal community that it not reliant on the use of motor vehicles.
Morales outlined a number of ways that this will benefit the city other than providing a means of transportation.
Most importantly, it is at no cost to the city and the company has agreed to hold all liability. Pittsfield's only job is to provide messaging, education, and preparing for the fleet.
In fact, Bird has a revenue sharing agreement with the city that gives it 15 cents for every ride. Morales attributed this to the company recognizing the value in working with communities.
"We're very impressed with what they are offering," he said. "It's very hands off for us."
A local company will act as the fleet manager for the scooters, working as a contractor for Bird. It will place the fleet in key locations to make for more trips, reset scooters in locations that make sense, and be responsible for charging them.
The understanding is that the fleet manager will also get revenue sharing incentives.
Morales explained that this will give the city and planners such as the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission transportation usage data that has yet to be obtained in real time.
The city has a one-year agreement with Bird and the program will run from April to November.
Riders will input all of their information into the Bird app before usage, including a driver's license to prove they are over the age of 18. The scooters will not be operable at night within city bounds and will not be allowed on state roads.
There is going to be a learning curve with this in terms of the boundaries, Morales said, and there may be boundaries on other locations within the city but that is a bridge that will be crossed when the program is rolled out and there is usage to evaluate.
Scooter etiquette is the same as that of a bike. Riding is done on the right side of the road, not on the sidewalk, and in a bike lane when possible. The Bird scooters travel at a maximum speed of around 15 mph.
They are equipped with GPS and sensors, which allow for the scooters to be tracked and for people to find available ones on the app.
Upon approval, reduced rates are also available to people eligible for low income state or federal programs.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., Bird is the brainchild of former Lyft and Uber executive Travis VanderZanden. Since its founding in 2017, its electric bicycles and scooters can be found in more than 100 cities across the globe.
Morales reported that every community that participated in the program last year is returning for this year. Bird has worked with communities as small as 6,000 people and as large as 150,000.
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