City Council members were stunned last week by the news that electric scooter rental company Bird hoped to bring 50 vehicles to Mexico.
“It sounds a little dangerous and off the wall,” …
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![Three Bird scooters on a sidewalk. The company suggested interest in Mexico as a market for rental scooters. [Fastily via Wikimedia Commons]](https://beta.creativecirclecdn.com/mexicoledger/original/20210723-134355-Bird%20Scooters%20Fastily.jpg)
City Council members were stunned last week by the news that electric scooter rental company Bird hoped to bring 50 vehicles to Mexico.
“It sounds a little dangerous and off the wall,” chairman pro tem Vicki Briggs.
The company provides rechargeable stand up scooters that can travel at speeds up to 17 miles per hour. Riders pay electronically and are charged per minute, dropping the scooters where their trip ends.
While Santa Monica, California-based Bird has successfully placed vehicles in around 100 U.S. cities, as well as across Europe and the Middle East, the scooter rental model has critics as well as advocates.
There have been injuries. And people complain about scooters or other electric rentals scattered around cities.
Nashville voted to make it difficult for companies to install rentals in the city. San Francisco recently sent Scoot -- a subsidiary of Bird -- a cease and desist letter for multiple permit violations.
Yet the service is billed as an environmentally friendly way to transform urban transportation.
“I’ve spoken with their representative,” Mexico economic development director Russell Runge said. “My question was ‘we’re a community of 12,000.’”
The company has focused on major urban areas. But scooters are popular on college campuses. So services have found a market in Columbia and Fulton.
Last month, Bird introduced rental scooters to the towns of Galesburg and Monmouth in Illinois, with early reports of success.
Council members cited maintenance issues reported from other cities, as well as complaints about vehicles left overnight. In Bird’s system, a local manager is tasked with collecting the scooters every night for recharging. The company informed Runge they would like to operate from 4 a.m. to midnight daily.
Still, the council remains skeptical.
“Where do they think the need is?” Briggs asked. Others cited the condition of streets and potential for misuse and injury.
“Somehow we think this will be safer than a golf cart?” Chris Williams added. “Before I’d consider it, we’d have to consider golf carts.”
Golf carts are not permitted on Mexico streets.
The council took no action on the proposal.
