We had our first encounter with bird scooters this past weekend. They were all over my daughter’s campus and students and parents alike were utilizing them. Seemed like a great idea but afterwards we heard that many campuses are banning them. Just curious if there are birds on your children’s campuses and how it’s going.
I had to look up what they were… seems like another way of ensuring Americans don’t get nearly enough exercise is the first thought that crossed my mind.
My youngest’s campus (Eckerd) provided free bikes anyone could use and many students did. Seems better to me.
The appeal of the Birds to students, and what makes them unique, is that they can be left absolutely anywhere. No charging stations, no central racks. I don’t remember being anywhere on campus without being able to see at least a handful of Birds at any given moment. Of course that is also what’s making the university crazy because there are scooters just randomly left all over campus.
I had never heard of Birds either, and they have a $2B+ valuation! There are dockless bike rentals (drop them anywhere, too) like Spin and LimeBike, and Uber has Dockless, an electric bike. I know all of these are operating/ targeting college campuses too, good to have options especially on large campuses. But it does seem random to just see these bikes/scooters anywhere, I wonder why these companies don’t seem to think the docking model (Divvy, etc.) work on campuses?
I didn’t know there were dockless bike rentals! I’ll have to keep an eye out for those!
I wished that the city of Berkeley would have Birds or Lime scooters. Instead they are stuck with an exclusive contract with Ford Go Bikes which are old fashioned and need to be docked.
I haven’t seen any bikes laying around in Chicago, but several dockless companies are operating here. We also have Divvy everywhere in the main business areas, it is really convenient. There has been this whole thing about the dockless companies, initially they were required to be locked, like around a street sign, but then that requirement was lifted and now you can just drop them anywhere. It seems the dockless companies are primarily targeting neighborhoods with fewer transport options, will be interesting to see how it all shakes out, but the valuations on these companies are crazy!
https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/city-revises-dockless-bike-sharing-rules-in-a-way-that-favors-uber-again/
They are all over my neighborhood since I live near UCSD in San Diego. I see people in the evenings riding them around UCSD when I am out walking and most of the kids seem to be riding safely and obeying traffic rules. The concern here is how fast the scooters are allowed to go and that people are riding them without helmets. My D lives near the beach and uses them occasionally. In her area the police are always arresting people on the Birds that have been drinking.
Hate, hate, hate our city’s contract with Lime. Folks just leave them in the middle of sidewalks. Bums pick them up and toss in Greenlake. Kids use them to prank homeowners by piling those bikes in driveways.
^^^That’s exactly what I thought would happen with those, too bad.
Are they electric or are there regular bikes too? If all regular, then my first thought still prevails. Many Americans are pretty lazy… though I suppose if the alternative were driving this would be better.
There are both analog and electric bikes in these dockless models. I hadn’t thought about the drunk driving on the motorized bikes/scooters before (post #7), but that seems like it would be an issue on campuses.
Correcting my Post#10… If all were electric (not regular) my thoughts of aiding laziness prevails!
Birds are a new addition to our community and I hate them. Dockless does not mean one has permission to behave with absolutely no consideration for others. These blasted things are parked in the middle of sidewalks, left in driveways, you name it. They go quite quickly, I’ve yet to see anyone wearing a helmet and they are just an overall nuisance.
Can you sense this is a subject I have strong feelings about? Just walk, bike or take the bus!