Scooters coming to Pensacola

The City of Pensacola is partnering with shared electric scooter company, Bird Rides, to bring e-scooters to the city beginning Monday, July 19, offering residents and visitors a new way to explore Pensacola.

“We are excited to welcome Bird to the City of Pensacola, and we look forward to offering e-scooters as an environmentally-conscious mode of transportation for residents and visitors to travel throughout our beautiful city,” Mayor Grover Robinson said. “We have heard from our residents that there’s a desire for multimodal transportation as our city continues to grow, and I think Bird scooters will make a great addition to our community.”

Bird currently operates e-scooters in more than 250 cities globally, and they will deploy up to 250 scooters in the franchise area as part of a one-year pilot program.

Bird will offer scooters to residents and visitors in order to help reduce carbon emissions, as well as traffic congestion on roadways. The scooters also offer residents without cars another transportation option.

Through the Bird smartphone app, riders can see the nearest Bird scooter on a map, complete the safety tutorial and ride directly to their desired destination. Upon ending their trip, riders simply park the scooter safely along the side of a sidewalk or on the street next to an unmarked curb and take a photo of the scooter through the app to ensure proper parking.

The cost for a Bird ride is $1 to start and a 39 cent per minute fee to ride.

Bird guidelines and rules include:

  • The electric scooters can be used on roads and in bike lanes and have a maximum speed of 15 mph.
  • Scooters must be parked out of the way of pedestrians and never blocking driveways or accessibility ramps.
  • Riders are required to be at least 18 years old to access the scooters.
  • Riders are encouraged to wear a helmet on every ride.
  • Riders are required to obey all standard rules of the road.
  • Additional rules may apply. Please refer to the app for more information.
Bird offers the following programs that are available for all who qualify:
  • Community Pricing -  Bird’s Community Pricing Program offers a 50% discount to low-income riders, Pell grant recipients, select local nonprofit and community organizations, veterans, and senior citizens. It’s designed to be the most inclusive micromobility discount program available anywhere. To sign up for the Community Pricing Program, download the Bird app, create an account, and email your proof of eligibility to access@bird.co.
  • Free Rides for Healthcare Workers and Emergency Personnel – Bird is proud to offer free rides to healthcare workers and emergency personnel. To sign up, simply email a copy of your medical employee identification card along with your name and phone number to together@bird.co. Eligible riders will receive two free 30-minute rides per day for as long as it takes to help our communities to recover from the global health crisis.
  • Community Mode – Community Mode allows anyone with a Bird account to report or provide feedback on vehicle-related issues such as poorly parked or damaged vehicles in their area. When a report is submitted, a member of the Bird team is assigned to correct the issue. Anyone can access Community Mode by tapping the yield sign on the bottom left of the Bird map.
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).
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