Issued the following announcement on July 28.
Electric Scooters Coming to the City of Beloit
Electric scooters are coming to Beloit! An electric scooter company, Bird, will bring its scooters to Beloit on Friday.
The Beloit City Council in June approved an ordinance that governs the use of e-scooters in Beloit. The scooters will be available through a mobile phone application and riders pay to use the scooter per minute.
The operation of the Bird scooters is geofenced to the City of Beloit boundaries, which means there are digital boundaries around the city limits. This limits and controls where the scooter travels. Each scooter has a GPS that is tracked by Bird. If the scooter goes outside of the City of Beloit’s municipal boundaries, the scooter will automatically slow down to 1 mph.
Bird requires scooter users to be age 18 or older.
The following are some basic rules (for more detailed information, please see City of Beloit Ordinance 13.085 & 18.02(2m)):
Users are highly encouraged to wear helmets
Speed limit is 15 miles per hour and 10 miles per hour on multi-use paths.
Scooters cannot be operated on City of Beloit roads with a speed limit over 25 miles per hour
Users must comply with all traffic regulations as drivers would in a motor vehicle
Users must yield to pedestrians in crosswalks
Must not be operated on a sidewalk
Parking Rules
Electric scooters shall be parked upright in a neat and orderly manner
Electric scooters may be parked at the following locations:
Docking station
Bicycle rack
Designated shared scooter parking
Geofenced parking location
Private property with permission of property owner
Sidewalks in some circumstances
Electric scooters must be parked without:
Blocking pedestrian access on a sidewalk
Reducing the clear width of a sidewalk to less than 60 inches
Blocking a crosswalk or access to a crosswalk, driveway or private road
Violating the Americans with Disability Act
Blocking vehicular traffic on streets or alleys
Threatening public safety or security
Being placed on bicycle ways, bicycle lanes or multi-use paths
The City of Beloit encourages use of the terrace for parking.
This company is bringing the scooters at no cost to the City of Beloit. All user fees are directly provided to Bird.
The company plans on offering scooters to residents and visitors in order to help reduce carbon emissions, as well as traffic congestion on roadways. The scooters offer residents without automobiles another transportation option.
“Scooters make for a useful way to bridge the gap between public transportation and a person’s home or work,” said Beloit City Manager Lori Curtis Luther. “More transportation options can bring a lot of benefits to the city.”
If a resident has questions or concerns about the e-scooters, the company can be reached directly at 1-866-205-2442 or hello@bird.co. More information about the company can be found on their website (www.bird.co) and on their blog (www.bird.co/blog).
Original source can be found here.
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