There are so many times we find ourselves walking to class, and in a moment of panic, realize that we are going to be five minutes late. There is no solution to this problem besides praying that our professor will have mercy on us and not deduct our grade.
With Bird scooters, things are beginning to change. Now, we may find a conveniently placed electric scooter outside of Franklin Hall and zip all the way to Woodburn Hall for a $1 starting price and 20 additional cents per minute.
This is the future for perpetually tardy students. On top of that, they are fun and environmentally friendly. The only thing that could make Bird scooters even better is if Bird officially partnered with IU.
Several University administrators are working to release an official, revised policy statement regarding Bird scooters later this week. However, even though the scooters are available all over Bloomington, there is no official partnership between the University and Bird as there is with many other U.S. schools.
Abilene Christian University in Texas has a partnership with Bird, which offers more benefits for students. One of these benefits is eliminating the $1 base fee for starting a ride for all students who qualify for federal or state assistance.
A partnership is not necessarily needed just to eliminate this fee, as Bird announced in July that anyone who qualifies for Medicaid, SNAP or other similar assistance programs can have the $1 price eliminated as well. But increasing accessibility does not end here.
While the riding price probably does not seem expensive to most, it is the biggest barrier to those without a disposable income looking for convenient transportation or even just a fun ride on a scooter. For students, this could be easily fixed with a partnership. IU could even work to eliminate the 20-cents-per-minute fee.
As students, we already pay for bus access through our annual transportation fees. This amounted to approximately $602 for the 2018-2019 school year. Scooter fees could be included in this as well.
Tech startups like Bird are created to be fun and helpful for their communities. On their website, the company states, "We work closely with cities to help make transportation better and more environmentally friendly."
Unfortunately, despite best intentions, these startups are often inaccessible to low-income communities due to their independent nature. This has been noted since Bird began distributing their scooters over the summer.
In Detroit, the Detroit Bus Company has started a project to buy scooters for children in low-income housing projects. If you want to donate or contribute, you can do so through their website.
Something like this would be amazing in Bloomington, but it would be even better if it did not depend on the generosity of independent donors, which is never guaranteed.
Looking to the future, if IU decides to partner with Bird, there are many ways we could eventually share the scooters with the entire community instead of just students on campus through student outreach programs. We already have clubs that involve community outreach, so a way to bring Bird scooters to low-income children could easily be incorporated into those.
While riding electric scooters is fun and efficient, it is a privilege. But it doesn't need to be. Everyone deserves means of transportation in their daily life when walking is not enough, and fun and environmentally friendly Bird scooters at IU are the perfect way to fix this.
