EDITORIAL: Let's hope these 'Birds' can safely fly
Feb. 24—Enid city officials last week approved pursuing the city receiving a delivery of about 100 Bird stand-up electric scooters to be available around Enid in March or early April. The scooters are to be at no cost to the city, and Bird will hire a local manager to take care of the fleet.
If this comes to pass, Enid will become another of a number of large and small cities to embrace a scooter program. However, the fact remains that when Bird comes to a town, transportation options and streetscapes change. Some cities have not had a good experience with electric scooters and have banned or discontinued them. Some riders haven't followed traffic rules or used common-sense etiquette. Also, many riders have been hurt.
However, an increasing number of city policymakers now are embracing scooters as a transportation and mobility option. Enid seems to be among those, yet there still are many questions that remain on this new transportation option. The Bird company appears to be eager to work with the city on addressing concerns or changes needed to successfully accommodate this new mode of transportation. The scooters likely will be deployed and ridden primarily in a pre-set operating zone that will be located around downtown.
It's good to see the city open the door for a private investor to operate such a system in Enid. Because many other cities smaller and larger than Enid already have been offering this personal transportation system, Enid can benefit by a lengthy list of best practices and prohibited practices developed by experiences elsewhere.
One thing we'd like to see included in planning and initiating this program is some communication or tutoring for the public on accessing and using these scooters safely. Riders will need to be informed on etiquette, rules, use of the rental system and dropping the scooters off without creating a hazard.
It will be important to get the operational details done correctly in order to assure the scooters are a successful and enjoyable addition to our community.
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The News & Eagle Editorial Board meets weekly to form the newspaper's stances on mostly local and state and occasionally national issues.
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