At their meeting on Nov. 2, the Alliance City Council voted to approve a request from Bird Rides, Inc to expand their scooter sharing business in Alliance.
Ordinance 2928, which amends the Alliance Municipal Code to include the use of scooters, bicycles and other modes of transportation within the city’s right of way, was before council members on a second reading.
Council Member Annora Bentley made a motion to waive the three required readings of the ordinance. The Council voted unanimously to approve the waiver, and proceeded to vote on the adoption of the ordinance. The ordinance passed without dissent. Next, council members voted to approve a right-of-way agreement with Bird Rides, Inc., an electric scooter rental service.
At a previous meeting. Alliance Police Department Chief Philip Lukens spoke to council members about the service, relaying his experience with them in Lincoln.
“From our standpoint, I’ve seen them just last weekend in Lincoln,” said Lukens. “They’re all around downtown, and they have a lot more foot traffic, a lot more population. I did not see them laying on their sides or in the gutters, or anything like that.
“It seems like people utilized them,” Lukens said. “From what I was able to ask a couple of restaurant owners there, because they knew we were doing this, I asked, ‘Do you guys see this?’ They said, pretty much, people take them right to the stands. The people that are utilizing them tend to be very handy; they’re used a lot during the games down by the stadium and so forth.”
Lukens said his largest concern is making sure people return the scooters to the stations. He said he believes the service is a good idea, noting that the scooters contain a GPS system, which would limit the risk of theft.
“I think, in general, it will benefit our community as far as people, the more active they are in the community, this is what we did with the painting of the crosswalks, some of those things to get people out actively in the community are signs of a healthy community,” said Lukens. “It’s that sign of a good quality of life; exactly what we are trying to accomplish for people to feel like they’re safe in our city to go out and enjoy it.”
Council Member Earl Jones asked if the service requires an app on a phone to use, and Lukens confirmed that people have to be part of the system. Bentley asked about how the age of the scooter users is tracked.
Lukens responded that it is not entirely possible to track the ages of all the users, though, when setting up a cell phone for children, their birth dates are entered for certain apps which require parental approval.
“Can somebody fault that system?” Lukens asked. “Absolutely. Somebody can set up a phone and give fictitious information and utilize the system that way. Or, a parent could activate it and let their kid take off riding it. There are ways that could be faulted. Again, I don’t know how many parents are going to turn their kids loose on electronic scooters when they’re eight. I don’t see that being as big of an issue.”