The micromobility company Bird begins its operations in El Puerto de Santa Maria with a fleet of 200 scooters and as part of a pilot project on sustainable mobility in the city. The scooters have a speed limit set at 25 km/h and meet all the requirements established in the regulation both nationally and locally, certified through an independent external consultant.
“It is a pleasure to collaborate with the City Council of El Puerto de Santa Maria to offer a safe and environmentally friendly mobility alternative, both to the citizens of the town and its visitors”, highlighted Toni Riera, General Manager of Bird Iberia, who has highlighted that the city of Cadiz joins others such as Madrid, Zaragoza, Alcala de Henares or Tarragona that “have already opted for shared micromobility .We are convinced that this pilot test will show both the people of Porto and the City Council that this model is effective and useful for the city”.
New projects
In addition, Bird is launching two pilot initiatives focused on pedestrian safety and street planning. On the one hand, the company has published a guide on how to notify scootersthat may be overturned or badly parked in the streets where Bird operates, whether they are users of the platform or not. The scooters will have a sticker on the bottom that can read “please help me get up” .
With three simple steps, pedestrians will be able to report any incident they have detected on the street, whether it is a damaged scooter, improperly parked or any other matter. Once the company has been informed, it will send it to the appropriate team so that the incident can be resolved in the shortest possible time.
More safety for pedestrians
On the other hand, the company has announced the pilot test of the so-called Community Safety Zones, areas that go one step beyond the common speed restriction zones and in which a high number of pedestrians congregate , such as schools, parks or shopping centers.
The scooters that circulate through these new security zones will automatically reduce the maximum speed to 13 km/h and will send a warning to the user’s mobile explaining that speed drop. The areas will be visible in the Bird application, where users can plan their routes taking these areas into account.
“Walking towards a new mobility model is important, but so is everyone’s safety. These Community Safety Zones are an excellent example of how technology can be used to make the streets safer for pedestrians”, Toni Riera highlighted during the announcement.
These new security zones will start their pilot test in Madrid, Marseille and Miami . Once the results of this experience are obtained, the company will collaborate with institutions and associations in the coming weeks to implement these zones in the more than 250 cities that collaborate with Bird.
