Resident seeking to land Bird electric scooters

Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, KY)

Sep. 9--Resident Nick Tharp approached the Owensboro City Commission at its special-called work session Tuesday about the idea of establishing an electric scooter business.

Tharp said he reached out to Commissioner Jeff Sanford last year about bringing the Bird-manufactured electric scooter to the city, but that the liability insurance was too costly then.

"We never got to this point at the time because whenever I looked into the insurance at that time, they wanted $50,000 a year," Tharp said.

Since that point, however, Tharp said Bird now covers the insurance portion, making it feasible to invest in the business.

"I didn't want to just go out and start this thing because I didn't want scooters all over the road without nobody knowing," he said.

The electric scooters, which are controlled through an app, allow riders to not only pay electronically but also to track the nearest available scooter, which can be left anywhere in the community.

Tharp said Bird recommends wearing helmets and not riding them on sidewalks. The city would require the scooters to be ridden on the street and the rider would have to be at least 16 years old.

"The idea of Bird ... you kind of ride them where you want them and you get off them and then somebody else picks them up from where you left it off," Tharp said.

The scooters have been more prominent in larger U.S. cities but many scooter fleets were pulled during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Bird's website, Louisville was among 10 U.S. cities that have since been phased back into service. In 2019, Louisville had up to 450 scooters.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reported in November 2019 that the city instituted a ban on riding them from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., and limited speeds in its downtown area.

Commissioner Larry Conder said he's seen them in Nashville but expressed concerns about them littering the roadsides and other public areas.

"A couple of the issues I've seen is when people drop them off, they drop them off," Conder said. "They're on the sidewalk; they're in the gutters; they're everywhere is where they are and many times it becomes a problem."

According to Tharp, Owensboro is rated by Bird for 300 scooters but his plan would be to start with 100.

Tharp said recommended parking areas could be established and guided by the app. And there would be a part-time person picking them up and making sure they were kept charged.

If the City Commission were to embrace the idea, one or possibly two city ordinances would likely have to be amended, according to Lelan Hancock, assistant city manager.

Hancock said a law currently prohibits motorized vehicles on the David C. Adkisson Greenbelt Park as well as on walking trails in other city parks.

And in the downtown area, which includes Smothers Park, Hancock said scooters, along with bicycles, skateboards and roller skates are currently not allowed.

Tharp said anywhere the scooters were prohibited or needed to be driven slower could be customized based around electronic geofencing that's predetermined.

"We could actually set a no-ride zone on the Greenbelt," Tharp said. "What that means, if they're riding along and they hit that no-ride zone, it's going to shut the scooter off. ...There're also slow zones. For example Moreland Park, it's not necessarily they can't be there but we're going to reduce the speed and we're going to take it down to 5 mph or 3 mph or whatever."

Tharp said he sees the electric scooters as an attraction that could generate revenue for the city.

"The main thing is we thought it would be fun for Owensboro," Tharp said. "Obviously, it would be for the city as well; it would be a little more revenue. At this point, we're not sure how much because we don't know how it's going to work."

Don Wilkins, dwilkins@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7299

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