FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts: Julie Patterson
Senior Communications Strategist
303.739.6617
Shared mobility returning to Aurora with e-scooters starting May 10
AURORA, Colo. – After a three-year hiatus, shared mobility is coming back to Aurora to provide residents with another mobility choice. The city of Aurora has issued its first electric scooter-share license to California-based micromobility company Bird, with rental e-scooters hitting the streets in targeted areas beginning May 10.
Bird is hosting Zoom webinars at noon and 5:30 p.m. May 17 to provide interested attendees with a summary of their service, community pricing information, special features, safe riding and parking expectations, and other details, and offer a chance for questions from attendees. To join the webinar, visit AuroraGov.org/SharedMobility. Everyone who participates will earn a free ride.
Riders must be age 18 or older and are encouraged to wear a helmet. Scooters have a maximum speed of 15 miles per hour, and riders should ride on bike lanes, streets or sidewalks (where roads exceed 30 miles an hour) and obey all standard rules of the road. The best place to park shared mobility devices is in the section of the sidewalk where street furniture, lighting, benches, utility poles, tree pits, and bicycle racks are located. Never leave a shared mobility device blocking sidewalks, curb ramps, ADA access, doorways or bike paths.
This is Aurora’s foray into scooter sharing after launching its original Bike Share Permit Program in 2017 to allow privately owned bike share operators. Aurora was the first city to host dockless bike share in Colorado, but operators pulled out after less than a year due to industry fluctuations.
Since then, Aurora’s bike share program—now renamed the Shared Mobility License Program—was modified to address market changes and incorporate new industry best practices and multiple device types. Private shared mobility companies are required to obtain a license to operate on the public streets and sidewalks in Aurora, and adhere to the program’s rules and regulations.
Shared mobility is an innovative transportation program, ideal for short-distance, point-to-point trips providing users with the ability to pick up a shared mobility device like an e-scooter from one location and leave it at another within the system’s service area. A robust shared mobility license program fulfills an Aurora City Council goal by expanding multi-modal mobility choices around bus, light rail and commuter rail stations, and in high-demand areas like northwest Aurora, the Aurora Metro Center and other locations throughout the city.
According to the city’s rules and regulations, mobility sharing operators must provide easy access to mobility devices for the broadest group of the population, including solutions for those individuals who do not have banking services or smart phone resources. Operators must make their system accessible and affordable to the broadest group of the population. The scooters coming to Aurora may be remotely accessed via a smart phone application or by texting the Bird operator directly to activate the device. Cash pay is available on Android devices only for those without a credit card at participating local retailers.
Operators will be required to report quarterly on statistics related to their fleet and membership and provide the city with a record of maintenance activities. The city will periodically evaluate the safety, efficiency and compliance of the Shared Mobility License Program over time. For more on the city’s Shared Mobility License Program, visit AuroraGov.org/SharedMobility or email [email protected]. For information on Bird, visit Bird.co or email [email protected].
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