‘Bird flipped us the bird’ says Redondo Beach, but scooter company apologizes
“You guys blew it.”
Impassioned rhetoric such as this from Redondo Beach Councilmember Christian Horvath filled the city chambers Tuesday night.
The words were aimed at Bird, the shared mobility company that dumped 300-plus electric scooters in Redondo the weekend of Dec. 7 without warning.
The shared-mobility company that effectively forced the hand of city council with its guerilla tactics.
But, Bird is sorry.
Tim Harter, the senior manager of government relations, expressed profuse apologies on behalf of the company.
“We did not know this small pilot demonstration would cause so many residents to be upset” Harter said, noting he had never seen a response as negative as that in Redondo Beach. “We want to help get cars off the road, that’s our mission.”
A remorseful attitude didn’t stop city council members and residents alike from chiding the company at the Tuesday meeting.
“Bird flipped us the bird instead,” said Councilmember Christian Horvath of the seemingly foiled collaboration between the city and the company. “That’s just totally not what any of us wanted to see happen.”
The city has been in talks with shared-mobility companies, including Bird and Lime, for months about elements of a potential pilot program, but made the decision in November to hold off on officially introducing them to the community.
Apparently, Bird couldn’t wait and instead hit the city with a three-day “pop-up” pilot.
Councilmember Nils Nehrenheim, who said he was the first to breach the subject matter of electric shared mobility devices in council last year, called the move “a slap in the face.”
“You were selfish and you jumped the line in front of all the others,” Councilmember Todd Loewenstein said Tuesday to the company. “You caused a lot of disruption and ruined everyone’s weekend…A lot of people who were excited are now pissed about this.”
Bird’s drop of the scooters—which, perhaps intentionally, took place on one of the city’s off-Fridays—drew utter outrage from Redondo Beach citizens.
Many took to social media the weekend of the “pop-up” to vent, denoting the scooters as public nuisances. Some cited concerns about the devices being left haphazardly about the city, while others threatened to throw them in the trash. Most vocalized worry about safety, liability and, above all, how the dump happened.
After Mayor Bill Brand issued a terse warning to the company to remove the scooters or face a possible ban, the devices disappeared from city streets by the following Monday, Dec. 10.
But not before a potential urgency ordinance was added to the Redondo Beach council agenda.
Cue a 1 a.m. verdict at Tuesday’s meeting: an urgency ordinance due back to council Jan. 8 to prevent any further scooter dumping.
Pop-up data
One positive aspect of the “pop-up” program, Harter said, was the company was able to learn about the potential of the devices in the area.
During the three-days of scooter mania, Bird gleaned usage data Harter shared with the city at the Tuesday meeting.
“During the pop-up demonstration…943 folks used Bird, resulting in 1,628 rides over the three days,” he explained. “The average distance was 1.7 miles. Most of that happened along Herondo Avenue and the Esplanade.”
The information may prove useful as the city will also be drafting a regular ordinance concerning shared mobility devices, albeit earlier than anticipated.
The ordinance will include framework for citing scooter rental companies, authority for impounding devices as well as timelines and fees for doing so.
City attorney Mike Webb urged Redondo’s council to give clear direction at the meeting as to its top concerns in creation of the ordinance, noting potential litigation as a risk.
“Give us your priorities, we will search for the best method of enforcing it,” Webb said at the Tuesday meeting, giving ordinances in other cities such as Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach as examples.
Poisoned the well?
Representatives for other shared mobility device competitors, such as Lime and Razor, were also on hand to express their continued interest in working with the city, emphasizing intention to use fair business tactics.
“We are committed to working with cities we are within,” said Josh Gray, director of government partnerships for Spin Electric Scooter Sharing. “We never launch without permission.”
Still, in a community that was already irresolute on electric scooters, Bird’s surprise dump may have “poisoned the well,” according to Loewenstein.
Indeed, residents at the meeting seemed more vehemently opposed to the devices than ever before, with one likening them to “an annoyance like shopping carts,” and another calling them a “blight.”
Some also called for Bird to be excluded from any potential scooter programs in Redondo Beach for their tactics.
“At a very minimum, Bird should not be allowed to do business in the city,” said one resident during the public comment section. “They burned their bridges…they should be done.”
The fate of scooters in the South Bay is volatile and extent of any backslide on the issue remains to be seen, but the palpable disappointment of city officials suggested this was indeed a significant setback.
“I am just disappointed,” said Councilmember John Gran. “We were making progress and now we’re here.”
“It sets us all back at this point,” Nehrenheim concurred.