Scooter and e-bike company Bird will flock to this Johnson County town this spring
A flock of electric scooters and bicycles will offer Overland Park residents a new way to fly around town starting as soon as early March.
The popular scooter and bikeshare company Bird inked a two-year deal with the city this week to offer a fleet of its small, electric shared vehicles across Overland Park as a trendy alternative for residents hoping to zip around town without a car.
The scooters and electric bikes are fun to ride, but city officials also hope they can offer residents or students without a car the opportunity to get around town more easily and cheaply, while also reducing at least some traffic and its associated pollution.
“I think exploring a variety of transportation options for our residents is a great thing to do to be more connected and give people choices,” said City Council member Melissa Cheatham. “Choices that are less polluting, choices that are less expensive, choices that might be more fun than going everywhere in our cars.”
The first 75 scooters are scheduled to arrive no later than April 15, but city traffic engineer Brian Shields expects the company to deliver them as soon as the beginning of March should winter weather start to clear and temperatures warm up.
At least 25 of Bird’s new electric bikes — available in only a handful of cities worldwide — are slated to arrive by July 1.
The scooter and bikes will be scattered throughout the city and will be available to rent for anyone signed up through Bird’s mobile app, through which users scan a code on the bike or scooter frame, pay a $1 fee to “unlock” the vehicle to allow it to move, zoom away and pay several cents per every minute they ride.
When the rider arrives at their destination, they simply stop the vehicle and log off through the app. Both types of vehicles can be picked up and left anywhere in the city, no parking racks necessary, but should be parked in a way that does not block sidewalks or businesses or parking spaces, Shields said.
Bird will coordinate picking up vehicles that go astray, charging them as needed and deploying them to high-demand places across town as they learn where they are most used, per the agreement. A portion will be dedicated to the lower income areas of town and others likely will be located near high-traffic areas like downtown or Johnson County Community College.
The fleet of scooters and bikes could grow to as many as 400 vehicles across town over the next two years under the exclusive pilot program approved by city leaders Monday night. At the end of the two years, the city could choose to open up to all vendors or continue with Bird as the sole provider.
Bird scooters popped up unannounced several years ago and quickly went away as city officials tried to determine how to regulate them, but Bird and its competitors have since expanded under official agreements in hundreds of locations across the country and internationally — including similar offerings across the metro area over the past three years.
The Bird scooters are now available in Prairie Village; Kansas City, Kansas; and Kansas City, Missouri. RideKC also offers electric bike rentals, but Overland Park will be the only municipality offering the Bird’s new electric bikes this year, Shields said.
The program will cost the city virtually nothing, but Bird will send 25 cents of every ride that begins in Overland Park to the city to defray any possible costs the city does incur, per the agreement. The company also has committed to offering 200 free helmets to Overland Park residents and hosting three community outreach events to teach interested riders about the vehicles’ rules of the road and proper parking.
“I’m excited we’re finally here having been someone who was working downtown when they just showed up one night,” Mayor Curt Skoog said Monday night. “The industry really has come a long way in working with communities to provide this service in an orderly, organized way, so I’m excited we’re taking this step.”
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 10:51 AM.
