Cloudy skies. High 47F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph..
Cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy later at night. Low 37F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Updated: October 20, 2022 @ 1:04 am
Shown is a Bird Scooter that Fulton resident David Phares found blocking the sidewalk on Oneida Street.
Shown is a Bird Scooter that Fulton resident David Phares found blocking the sidewalk on Oneida Street.
FULTON — Residents of the city of Fulton expressed concerns and provided feedback regarding the recent addition of Bird Scooters to the city at the Common Council meeting Tuesday.
Bird Scooters, which were brought to the city through Port City Scooters, rolled out on Aug. 26. The electric scooters allow people to ride throughout the city of Fulton at an affordable cost, using a mobile app to sign up, pay for rides and locate scooters.
David Phares provided members of the Common Council and Port City Scooters owner Matthew Fragale two photos of the scooters, one showing a scooter blocking a sidewalk and the other showing two scooters left side by side on the road.
Phares said that he had called the phone number provided on the scooters regarding the one blocking the sidewalk, as well as sending some emails. He said he wasn’t sure if the company responded, as he later saw the scooter moved to someone’s lawn. Phares added he almost hit the scooters that were in the road, and informed the police department about their location.
He said that the scooters were still there hours later, and when he eventually saw people riding on them, he spoke with them about where they were parking them. According to Phares, the riders responded that members of the police department had advised them to park the scooters there.
“I’m wondering where the disconnect is or maybe I’m just overly cautious, I don’t know,” Phares said. “I’m wondering how much thought and discussion was given to these scooters because frankly, I don’t see where they’re worth the value of being fun and an easy way to get around town. I see them as a nuisance. So I’m wondering what your action plan is to solve this problem.”
Other community members shared Phares’ concerns about the misplacement of scooters as well as safety issues. Oswego County Legislator Frank Castiglia (25th District) said that he has seen people riding through stop signs on the scooters and more than one person riding on a scooter at a time, sometimes the additional rider being a young child. Castiglia pointed out the possibility of a Bird Scooter accident and what the cost would be to the police department to respond.
“If there’s an accident with one of those, you’re going to have four police cars there. How much does it cost for an accident? It costs us about $200 to $300 every time the police go out on a call,” Castiglia said. “I’m not saying that they aren’t going to be needed here someday and there won’t be a use for them. I’m saying that we had to think it through further and get in bike lanes and get in traffic lanes. … They are a use for people to have entertainment and that’s what it’s there for, but we need entertainment for the kids. We don’t need entertainment for adults.”
City employee Matt Overton was supportive of the Bird Scooters, pointing out that in regards to obeying traffic laws, riders of bicycles also ride through stop signs.
“What’s the difference between a bicycle and a scooter?” Overton said. “At least it’s creating revenue. Revenue is a big deal for our city. … This is another way to enjoy our city, not be negative and constantly drudge up terrible things about our city, to be positive and endorse great things for our city.”
Fulton Police Chief Michael Curtis said that the only role he has played regarding the scooters was having a meeting with Port City Scooters. He said that the company was very responsive to questions, and that the biggest question he’s received about the scooters is how often the police department has had to be involved in order to regulate them.
Curtis expects that as the scooters continue to be used, there will be less of a need for police involvement.
“I have confidence that as we move on, even though it was a quick rollout to take advantage of the warm weather, we get a little bit of a picture of where we can go with the program later and when we talk about police contact, it should be reduced,” Curtis said. “I know there’s concern about the cost of services for the police department, but it is the same risk as a bicyclist, the same risk as a pedestrian and the same risk as a motor vehicle crash.”
Port City Scooters owner Matthew Fragale thanked Phares for providing the photos and addressed concerns. Fragale said that there is a learning curve and that his company works to address misplacement of scooters. He said that when he is out working and sees people dropping the scooters off at odd locations, he stops to speak with them about it.
“I try to stop and educate these people, ask them to be courteous, be kind, think about where they’re dropping the scooter and make sure that they put them up on a kickstand, not just throw them down in the yard, things of that nature,” Fragale said. “Unfortunately, we can’t be everywhere when somebody rides, but hopefully through diligence we’ll get the word across and people will get the point.”
Fragale explained that they moved quickly to get Bird Scooters into Fulton, but that generally calling the phone number on the scooters will populate a 311 to Fragale, similar to a 911 where they are alerted about issues. Fragale and his team have two hours to resolve the issue. He said that most times they fix the issue in less than two hours, or the problem will resolve itself.
“It was brought to me this morning that there were a couple of scooters on the bridge that were blocking the sidewalk,” Fragale said. “I wasn’t aware of it, unfortunately … but it was shared with me. We fixed it 25 minutes later, issue resolved. I can understand that it was an inconvenience for whatever time they were there, but again, as soon as I was notified, it was addressed.”
Addressing other safety concerns, such as people riding without helmets, Fragale gave a reminder that when Bird users download the app, they are acknowledging that they are at least 18 years old, accept liability and agree not to operate the scooters while under the influence of any substance.
“I understand, I see people around all the time riding without helmets,” Fragale said. “It’s a tough thing to really police. … People are riding bicycles around the city of Fulton with no helmets either. I don’t know besides continuing to say ‘please wear a helmet, please ride it safely and please ride it courteously,’ how to address that in any other way. But I understand everyone’s points.”
Fulton Mayor Deana Michaels spoke on the option of geofencing, which limits the areas where the scooters can be used. The mayor said that the Fulton City School District recently requested geofences to be put up on its property, which is something Fragale and his team can complete through an app to ensure scooters will be restricted from school property.
“Just by simply doing some stuff on the app, it geofences those properties off and they can’t go there,” Michaels said. “If we have an event we can geofence it off. We can manipulate that and learn on it. It’s all done right here on the app on the phone, so we just recently did that to help support the school district in their request.”
Michaels reminded those in attendance that the scooters are not a city initiative, but a program run by Port City Scooters.
“Port City Scooters, just so everyone knows, these scooters are not a city initiative,” Michaels said. “The city is not running the program. It’s a small business that came to the city of Fulton, so they are a small business operating out of the city of Fulton and Matt happens to be a local Fultonian who owns the business.”
Over seven days of usage, there were 447 rides on the Bird Scooters, according to Fragale. He said that he has seen people riding their scooters to work, the Department of Motor Vehicles, Mimi’s Drive-In, Tiny Bubbles Laundromat and various other locations. The city receives 15 cents in revenue per scooter ride, according to Michaels.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Would you like to receive our daily news? Signup today!
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Invalid password or account does not exist
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.
Secure & Encrypted
Secure transaction. Cancel anytime.
Thank you.
Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
A receipt was sent to your email.
