There’s been an excellent buzz round city concerning the shared Bird electrical scooter pilot program launched May 6 in Windsor, the primary Sonoma County metropolis to do it.
There have been a number of bumps within the highway when residents complained that youngsters underneath 18 had been allowed to hire them and had been driving on sidewalks, bumping into automobiles and customarily inflicting havoc.
Once that was dealt with by an ID verification expertise that requires riders to scan a type of ID earlier than every trip, it’s been a smooth trip for the one-year pilot program accepted April 6 by the Town Council.
“I’m hearing mostly positive comments, so we are going to hopefully work out any wrinkles as they arise,” stated Windsor Vice Mayor Esther Lemus. “It’s a positive thing because there are less people driving. I have previously been on one of those scooters and it’s a pretty easy way to get around. We have a SMART train that’s going to be around … I would be more apt to use the train if I knew there was a way to get to work.”
The 25-50 scooters are stationed strategically round Windsor, and riders are required to journey on trails and bike lanes, not on sidewalks or within the highway, as they’re restricted to going 15 mph. All scooters have GPS monitoring, and customers pay $1 a mile by the usage of a Bird app.
Guests on the Hampton Inn coming from bigger metropolitan areas resembling Austin, Texas and Los Angeles are excited to see the scooters parked in entrance of the resort, in response to Katie Phillips, director of gross sales, as a result of they’re aware of them.
“They ask a lot of questions — they like the fact that we have them in front of our hotel,” Phillips stated. “Some use them to go to Russian River Brewing Co.”
Her workers makes use of them generally to go decide up lunch, she stated.
The scooters have been “a great selling point for future bookings,” Phillips stated.
“A bride asked about the walking distance to our restaurants, and I mentioned that we had these cute little scooters, and she got very excited and was going to tell all her guests that they could use those instead of Ubers,” she stated. “It’s been a great conversation starter.”
The scooters are rented and used essentially the most in central Windsor, however in response to the city’s information, “a good number of people start and end their rides all over Windsor, perhaps with more concentration near the Windsor Golf Club, the Beverage District, Keiser Park and shopping centers,” Windsor Public Works Director Shannon Cotulla stated.
“Since this is a new program, it will take a little time for people to get used to e-scooters,” Cotulla stated in a written assertion. “To ride a Bird scooter, riders agree to follow traffic and safety rules, such as no riding on sidewalks. Bird also has several rider-education initiatives both in-app and on other channels to promote safe riding. The town has received some complaints about kids riding the scooters and inappropriate ridership — these have been passed on to Bird through calls, emails and the Bird app.”
Ridership peaks within the late afternoon and early night, she stated. The scooters are parked in clusters the place use is anticipated, and repositioned as wanted, in response to Garrett Gronowski, a consultant of the micro-transportation firm, who gave a digital presentation to the council on April 6.
Mayor Sam Salmon stated though he acquired some destructive suggestions concerning the scooters when children have been using them, he’s all in on the program.
“For me, it’s just having them out there for people to see,” he stated. “I think their use will pick up. … It’s going to take a while. It’s all about green gas reduction. The car’s gonna kill us.”
Beth Henry, govt director of the Windsor Chamber of Commerce, stated “I’ve not gotten any feedback (about the scooters) from the businesses, which I view as good. If there were problems I would have heard.”
“I like them; I like the randomness of them,” she added. “I really think this is helpful in the last-mile issue you always hear about.”
You can attain Staff Writer Kathleen Coates at kathleen.coates@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5209.