Bird scooters coming to another Johnson County city this summer

Bird scooters will soon be coming to Olathe after a pilot program was approved at Tuesday’s regular city council meeting.

There is no official launch date for the small, electric vehicles to arrive in Olathe, according to Cody Kennedy, a spokesman for the city, but city documents say the e-bike and scooter company expects to launch in three to four weeks.

A minimum of 50 scooters will be available on launch day and that number will not exceed 200 during the pilot program, which runs until November of next year. When it ends, the city will reassess the agreement.

Riders can scan a QR code on the scooter’s frame and use the Bird app to begin their ride. It costs $1 to start moving and several cents per minute to ride.

To end a ride, riders stop the vehicle and log off through the app.

Bird is the sole provider of these small vehicles in the city, at least until the end of the pilot program next year.

According to city documents, Bird will pay the city 15 cents per ride to help with any costs incurred by the program.

Olathe City Attorney Ron Shaver said that the city is already seeing the scooters since people ride them into Olathe from Overland Park, where a pilot program with Bird was approved in February.