Students may have seen them zipping around campus or cluttering up the sidewalks outside California Baptist University’s campus. Like it or not, Bird scooters are here.
Bird, the motorized scooter sharing company just recently brought its motorized-scooter services to Riverside.
Its main goal is to reduce traffic and provide a low-cost solution for those trying to make a short trip to public transit or just travel a short distance.
Bird serves more than 50 cities in the United States and recently brought its services to Riverside. A Bird representative stated that the city and Bird have similar goals of reducing traffic and CO2 emissions.
“Riverside shares Bird’s vision of getting cars o the road to reduce traffic and carbon emissions in its communities. We are thrilled to offer our affordable, environmentally- friendly vehicles to the city,” said a Bird spokesperson in a press release.
The service itself operates through an app. It costs $1 to initiate a ride and an additional 20 cents per mile after that.
The scooters can cruise up to a 15 miles per hour and each has about 15 miles of battery life.
At the end of the day, scoot- ers are picked up to be re- charged and repaired if need be. They are placed back in their “nests” by 7 a.m.
These nests are street corners or bus stops where the scooter are strategically placed.
CBU students have discovered the nests near campus and have begun using the scooters.
Jose Guzman, junior business major, said he’s noticed the Bird scooters around Riverside.
“I first found out about Bird when I saw someone ride one,”Guzman said.
Nichole Tovar, senior communication disorders major, said she first learned about Bird in San Diego.
“I saw the (Bird Scooters) in San Diego and wondered if the scooters I saw here were the same,” Tovar said.
Despite some enthusiasm for Bird scooters among students, Safety Services at CBU stated it is against university policy to have motorized scooters on campus.
Safety Services impounds any scooters it finds on campus and asks Bird to promptly remove them.
Although this rule is campus-wide, some CBU students have been seen using Bird scooters to get around.
Bird is now a low-cost transit option in Riverside that provides an easy-access way to ride around town with friends or for a quick trip to a grocery store or to the mall.
The scooters are available for public use in 21 states around the nation and can be spotted in eight different California cities.
