Details of micro

LOGAN – Details of Logan City’s one-year pilot program with Bird Global emerged during a report on the initiative to the members of the Logan Municipal Council on Aug. 1. Under that agreement, Bird has been providing dockless short-term e-scooter rentals to city residents since July 11.

In the first 22 days of services in Logan, the Bird scooters have been rented 1,555 times, according to city planner Russ Holley.

To operate one of the city’s fleet of 200 Bird scooters, residents are charged $1 to unlock the device and $.39 for every minute they ride. Under a revenue sharing agreement with Bird, the city receives $.25 each time an e-scooter is used. That revenue will be earmarked for future micro-mobility improvements within the city, Holly said.

First-time customers can unlock any available scooter by downloading the Bird application on any mobile device (a QR code on each scooter’s handlebars can be used to access that application). The Bird application warns users that e-scooters are not to be used on sidewalks, advising riders to use bike lanes when available or travel along the side of the road.

Use of the scooters on city sidewalks is authorized only when “no other option is available,” Holly added.

When parking an e-scooter, riders are also advised to avoid hydrants, sidewalks, doorways, driveways and other passageways.

Residents can also use the Bird application to report issues about the scooters. Holley said that local Bird employees are fairly responsive to any complaints, usually responding in “a couple of hours.”

The city reserves the right to designate mandatory dismount zones in which the use of the scooters is prohibited. The use of Bird scooters in those areas is controlled by a technology called “geo-fencing.”

At the present time, the largest no-go zone in Logan is the campus of Utah State University. Holley explained the university officials are now negotiating details with Bird of their own pilot program for on-campus micro-mobility options.

Holley explained that an electric charge on a scooter normally lasts for about a day and that, on any given day, there are about 80 scooters available for rental within city limits. Experience has proven that the scooters don’t actually require re-charging that often, Holly told council members. When that is necessary, however, Bird has a local fleet manager who collects the scooters at night and recharges them.

All the scooters are equipped with Bird’s own hardware so they can be located anywhere in the city. That technology allows each scooter’s battery charge to be remotely monitored. Although Bird supplies both e-scooters and e-bikes, only scooters are being offered in Logan.

While Bird officials acknowledge that their service does not provide helmets, they urge riders to bring their own headgear.

Bird is one of several companies – including Lime, Spin and Superpedestrian – now supplying micro-mobility options to cities across the nation and throughout the world. Bird alone as entered into agreements with more than 400 cities, a half-dozen of which are in Utah.

Logan city officials cleared the way for the advent of micro-mobility options with local ordinance changes in spring of 2022. Those included scooters, electric bikes, electric scooters, electric skateboards, shared bikes, skateboards, rollerblades and other personal transportation devices.

Also adopted were changes to the municipal code would allow micro-mobility devises like the Bird scooters.

The Bird scooter application can be found at https://go.bird.co

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