E-Scooters Back in Downtown St. Louis

St. Louis city is allowing a “soft relaunch” of e-scooters in downtown and Downtown West after banning them last July.

Monte Chambers says that Bird, an e-scooter and e-bike short-term rental company, has received a permit from the city to place no more than 50 scooters downtown this weekend.

The company has to test “internal compliance” on the ground and will be monitoring the use of the e-scooters starting Friday through the weekend.

The rules that Bird will be making sure it complies with are that the e-scooter speed cannot exceed 12 mph. This is down from the current 15 mph. In some areas, the speed of the scooters must be reduced to 10 mph.

The company also must make sure that a user can only unlock one scooter per account. If you’re wondering how kids are supposed to scooter with their parents, don’t worry. The city has banned anyone under 18 from operating the rental e-scooters.

There are also rules about where scooters can be staged and parked, and Bird must make sure it complies with caps on the size of fleets in certain neighborhoods.

The city says that if you run into any problems with your rental contact Bird at [email protected]. Bird’s permit cost $2,500 for the year. Lime, another popular e-bike and e-scooter rental company, is expected to get its permit next week.

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