Electric scooter-sharing company Bird expanded into Louisiana this morning, making scooters
available in Lafayette, and is considering bringing its flock of scooters to Baton Rouge, company spokesperson Rachel Bankston says in an email.
Similar to bike-sharing programs, riders rent the scooters using smartphones and the Bird app. The rentable scooters are dropped off each morning at established sites around the city, according to a fact sheet provided by the company. “Bird has no expansion plans to announce at this time, but we believe Baton Rouge would be a great place to provide our affordable and environmentally-friendly transportation solution. We hope to collaborate with city officials to bring Bird’s service to the area in the future,” Bankston says.
According to a statement released by the Lafayette Consolidated Government earlier this afternoon, the city was not contacted by Bird prior to the company placing scooters in various parts of town. Yesterday, after a similar unannounced launch in Palm Springs, California, officials there ordered the company to cease and desist operations in the city.
Bird was founded in September 2017 and has grown into more than 100 cities, including Austin, Portland, Atlanta and Memphis.
