As of July 20, dockless e-scooter company Bird has a new home in Providence.
Users can rent one of city-wide scooters for a $1 flat fee, followed by a 15 cent charge per minute of use. Reservations are made via Bird's mobile app.
Providence city officials said that the company had not notified anyone before the scooters made their Providence debut.
“We just began communications with the company today,” said Mayor Jorge Elorza's press secretary Victor Morente in a Providence Journal report. “I don’t have very much beyond that.”
The report adds that Bird has pulled a similar move in other cities before, like Cambridge, as a way to avoid hold ups with municipal governments.
Bird isn't the only dockless vehicle brand entering the ecosystem. Uber Technologies' Jump Bikes, an electric bike company, announced that will come to Providence in August thanks to the sponsorship of Tufts Health Plan, Lifespan, the city government and a $400,000 federal grant via the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority.
The city will host 46 of these electric bike hubs, with riders paying $2 per half-hour ride.
