Columbia negotiating one-year agreement with Bird scooters

The City of Columbia is negotiating a one-year agreement with Bird scooters.

Jose Caldera, Assistant City Counselor, provided an update at the Downtown Leadership Council meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Caldera said the agreement will address a number of concerns the city manager’s office has been receiving, including location, parking regulations, Bird’s response time, enforcement and ADA compliance.

“We have received some complaints, some concerns, as well as some compliments of these dockless scooters. These are all the things the city manager’s office is tracking,” Caldera said.

Bird scooter does not currently have a business license. In an email Tuesday, city spokesperson Steve Sapp said he is not aware of any fine Bird will have to pay for operating without a license. Caldera said the city is allowing the scooter company to operate without a license because an agreement is pending.

“The minute we started negotiating in good faith towards an agreement, we said we’re going to let this happen right now because we’re about to enter an agreement.”

Bird scooters have been on the receiving end of criticism amid concerns over ADA compliance. Many people have complained over scooters being left in sidewalks, but others have said the scooters are a cheap and easy way to get around.

“It’s fairly evident they are going to be around for a while and people are using them. And I also think we need to gain some consciousness on leaving them out of the way or in a spot that’s not going to cause a problem for an ADA compliance thing,” Ben Wade, chairman of the downtown CID told ABC 17 News.

In an email Tuesday, Sapp said that in the case of accident, liability would be determined by the parties involved or the courts. He also said the city manager’s office is working to get an agreement to the city council as quickly as possible but there is no formal timeline.