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A flock of birds has migrated to the west of Lafayette.
Electric scooters bearing the Bird brand appeared in the Grand Lafayette area on Friday morning. A day later, the West Lafayette Police Department had collected them.
"We treat them like we treat an abandoned bike," said Troy Harris, deputy chief of the WLPD. "After 24 hours we will impound him."
Harris said that because the scooters had remained in a position that blocked the sidewalks, the devices violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.
"They took the majority of the sidewalk," he said. "A wheelchair could not get around them."
The San Francisco-based scooter sharing company offers scooter-free rides for a fixed amount of $ 1 and an extra $ 0.15 to $ 0.20 for every minute you ride – and is the subject of a free ride. a controversy for its economic model.
Bird scooters appeared on the streets of Indianapolis without warning in April, but the city ordered them to remove them soon after. According to the Indianapolis Star, Bird filed an application on August 7 to return to the city.
Here in West Lafayette, legislation is still under discussion on what to do with scooters, Harris said Friday. He told The Exponant that he had no idea that the service was coming into town.
"There is a bad way of doing things," he said, adding that the West Lafayette City Council meeting on Monday was likely to solve the problem of scooters. Harris told The Exponent on Saturday that he had been in communication with Bird since the scooters appeared and that the company had acknowledged the problem.
"I think the concept is neat," said Harris. "But it's definitely something we have to adapt to."
Harris has raised Pace bikes as an example of how to work with the city.
"Pace has an agreement with the city," Harris said, noting that there are appropriate procedures to follow.
According to the Bird app, 29 scooters are being held near the West Lafayette Police Station. Despite the WLPD's attempts to collect as many scooters as they could find Saturday afternoon, others appeared Sunday morning on Northwestern Avenue.
A student takes part in the craze for birds by working as a "feeder", a person who uses the Bird app to locate the scooters at the end of the day, charge them at night and release them the morning. Chargers are paid by Bird to reload the scooters.
"They have scooters in San Diego," said Aidan Skelding, a senior at the Polytechnic Institute.
After spending his summer on the west coast among the birds, Skelding decided to become a loader himself. He started collecting scooters Sunday night and plans to get them back whenever he needs money for beer and errands.
The introduction of scooters at West Lafayette comes after an article in the Journal & Courier on Aug. 3 said: "Electric scooters are not going to arrive soon in Grand Lafayette," citing Purdue officials and the city.
Purdue spokesman Tim Doty said Purdue was aware of the arrival of the scooters, but was not in talks with Bird to bring scooters to our West Lafayette campus.
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