APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Electric scooters are coming to Appleton this spring. The city’s Common Council approved the pilot program with the company Bird in a 14-0 vote.
The program will provide 100 dockless electric scooters that can be located through an app. Once you enter your payment information and scan a QR code you can start riding. When you’re done, you leave the scooter at your destination. Bird charges $1 to start, and an additional 39 cents per minute, according to its app.
“It’s a pilot and we can be flexible. And if things do not bring any benefit to the city, we can pull the plug,” Appleton Alderperson Brad Firkus said in Wednesday’s council meeting.
The scooters won’t be allowed on the sidewalk on the main stretch of College Avenue between Drew Street and Badger Avenue. Bird will be responsible for maintaining and redistributing the scooters across the city.
“We can replace some of the trips that are taken by cars right now, short trips, with scooter rides,” Firkus said.
You have to be 18 or older to ride the scooters, which can go up to 15 mph.
“I have a feeling we’re going to get a significant number of complaints, but that shouldn’t immediately call us to halt the program. It’s a process that the community is going to have to go through to understand how these are being used,” Alderperson Alex Schultz said the council meeting.
Appleton resident Paul Grode rode a Bird scooter in Denver. He says he’d consider using one here.
“It was overall a good experience. I know people kind of complain about it because Birds get left all over the place, but it is convenient if you don’t have a car,” Grode said.
Yvonne Sheley was visiting Appleton from Two Rivers. She’ll stick to walking.
“I have good balance but I would be afraid I’d probably fall over and I’m not ready at this age to bite the dust,” Sheley said.
Lawrence student Haley Siculan most likely won’t use one, but she thinks it’s a good idea.
“It is an environmentally-friendly option. I know there are a lot of scooter accidents that happen, so maybe if there are also helmets or something associated with it, that’d be great,” Siculan said.
If you’re interested in cruising through Appleton, the pilot program goes until Dec. 31.
The city doesn’t have to pay anything for the pilot program.
FOX 11 reached out to Appleton’s public works director for an interview Friday to ask more questions about the program. She did not respond to our request.
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