UPDATE 2: 5/20/2022 3:10 pm. From Melissa Maddox-Evans, the program was proposed to HACA as a City-sponsored program. HACA does not have the maintenance capability to monitor the vehicles on their property. However, all HACA properties are right next to City Streets, so HACA residents should have access. Maddox-Evans also said that the Bird representative said that Bird chose the geofenced areas partially based on the prior bike-share program. Bird also told HACA that this was a start and that they would evaluate where to expand. We have reached out to Bird for more information.
UPDATE 1: 5/20/2022 12:30 pm. From Cate Pettit, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, the properties in question are all private properties and were excluded at the owners’ request, one of which is the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis. Petit also said that the Naval Academy and St. John’s College were also geofenced out of the application. Understanding that there may be an equity issue, the Bird app has a 50% discount or fare subsidy for individuals that meet certain criteria. This can be found in the “Community Fare” menu of the app. We have reached out to HACA to see the reasoning behind this decision and have requested a complete list of property owners who have asked to be included in the geofence.
Two days ago, the City of Annapolis announced a new micro-transit option–Bird e-scooters and e-bikes. Touted as a fun and easy way to get around Annapolis, the Bird representative warned that they are geo-fenced and would not operate outside the City limits. Fair enough.
But they neglected to say that the geo-fence also applies to several targeted neighborhoods IN the City. The City and Bird have also drawn a geo-fence around most public and subsidized housing communities, predominately home to Black residents.
We have reached out to The City for a comment on this and will update the story as soon as we receive a response.
Below are other areas identified as “no scoot zones” by the City.
