Mayor Barlow Says Bird Ride Scooters Are Early Hit In City Of Oswego

by Matt Watling | July 17, 2021 7:00 am

OSWEGO – Earlier this month, the City of Oswego debuted its partnership with Bird[1], an electric scooter company, which has been met with predominantly positive views from the public.

Mayor Billy Barlow who was a major proponent of the scooters described the feedback as “99% positive” with so many teens and adults alike using them for entertainment or even a new form of transportation. Barlow added that the scooters have added to “some of the energy” the city has. Despite the positives, there are still some complaints.

“The few complaints I have heard have been [that] a scooter has been left in front of somebody’s house or near someone’s house or on the sidewalk,” Barlow said. “The placement bothers them.”

Another situation that arises from an influx of scooters, a new form of transportation to the city, is how they should be used on the roads. Some users have driven the scooters on sidewalks alongside pedestrians; however, they should be treated as bicycles and follow the rules of the road.

“Some of the recent language coming out of the [New York state] Senate is treating them like bicycles,” said Lieutenant Damian Waters of the Oswego City Police Department. “They should be similar to what a bicycle should be in the road ways, watching for pedestrians, stopping at stop signs, everything that a bike is supposed to do.”

Waters added that riders can use the sidewalk if necessary but must use plenty of caution and watch out for pedestrians. Despite the need for clarification, Barlow said that he has not been made aware of any serious issues or safety problems associated with the scooters since their inception.

Since the start, the city has moved scooters around early in the morning before riders typically access them. This is to make up for certain hot spots in the city that might need more scooters than the corner of a residential street where a previous rider dropped it off the day before. These drop off spots include Breitbeck Park, the marina and “down by the forks” on Route 104, according to Barlow.

The city has also seen an added benefit of 15 cents or revenue per ride with the rest of the money going back to Bird.

In terms of the demand for these scooters, the city has actually outperformed its expectations, with as many as 412 rides which came on Saturday, July 10, which netted the city $61.80. Barlow said that the city and Bird both did not expect to see this many rides and anticipates that it will only increase when the SUNY Oswego community returns to Oswego.

“Bird Rides, the company is very happy. We are very happy,” Barlow said. “We have a lot of people using them. I expect that number to increase as people get used to the program and certainly when the SUNY community comes back.”

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/news/oswego/mayor-barlow-says-bird-ride-scooters-are-early-hit-in-city-of-oswego/

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