Council resumes talks on scooters

Ivan Whitfield, a member of the Pine Bluff City Council, is shown in this February 2022 file photo. (Pine Bluff Commercial file photo)
Ivan Whitfield, a member of the Pine Bluff City Council, is shown in this February 2022 file photo. (Pine Bluff Commercial file photo)

The Pine Bluff Public Works committee, chaired by council member Ivan Whitfield, met Wednesday to continue the Bird scooter expansion conversation that began during the Traffic and Aviation meeting the day before.

During the Traffic and Aviation Committee meeting on Tuesday, Bird account manager Michael Ellis met with the committee, chaired by council member Joni Alexander, about potentially expanding now that summer is near.

The scooters made their debut on the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff campus in January and became a hit with the on-campus community. Now that classes have come to an end and college kids are mostly gone for the summer, Bird wants to expand its services throughout the city and the parks.

Bird senior account executive Mike Butler said previously he had had conversations with Parks and Recreation Director Samuel Glover, who was against the expansion in the parks.

During the Public Works meeting, Glover said it was dangerous to ride the scooters in the parks and thought it would be premature due to the infrastructure of the parks.

"What are the people going to do?" Glover asked, saying there would be nothing for them to ride to. "We're not ready to have a bunch of scooters down there."

Glover felt the city parks were not designed for the need of a scooter.

Whitfield disagreed and felt it would give parkgoers the leisure to get around the park.

"In general we're OK with limiting these to being on the streets as opposed to parks," said Butler, who admitted he had never been to Pine Bluff and said he was fine with Glover's decision to not have the scooters in the park.

Butler said he was not OK with the city of Pine Bluff limiting their scooter service to just the university.

"We are trying to serve the broader part of the community, residents, students and anyone visiting the town," he said.

"We feel the park will be a great place to allow it to happen," said Whitfield.

Whitfield said the expansion comes at no cost to the city.

"We say we want to improve but yet they can't come to the park and get a scooter," said Whitfield. "If it fails we remove it but if we don't try it, doesn't make sense."

Mayor Shirley Washington said downtown Pine Bluff doesn't get the same level of foot traffic as the other cities that Bird offers their services to but she did support scooters in the park.

After attending a gathering at a park in Tulsa that had Bird scooters, Washington said, she envisioned them at Regional Park, having ridden one herself. Her only concern was having the scooters crossing Martha Mitchell Highway, and Butler said Bird can set traveling parameters.

"I am willing to try anything to a certain extent. I don't see an issue with testing it out," Alexander said. She added with Streetscape recently completed and several downtown buildings that attract visitors such as the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, people may want to ride a scooter downtown for both leisure and utility.

Requesting the expansion be in writing, Whitfield made a motion that Bird expand in two areas, the park and downtown, inviting the college and neighborhoods recommended by council members.

"All costs are not financial, and we need to keep that in mind," said Glover. "It may not be costing the city anything right now, but we can be paying for it in other ways. At this time, I am 100% against that motion."

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