Ansonia resident Jason Edwards snapped this photo of scooters in Ansonia back in May.
SEYMOUR — Residents won’t be zipping around town on those electric scooters that seem to be popping up in cities across the country,
That’s because the Board of Selectmen killed a proposal by Santa-Monica-based e‑scooter company, Bird, before they could even bring it to a vote.
During the board’s meeting Tuesday (July 19), Bird Senior Account Executive Jeremy Lynch laid out the pros of bringing e‑scooters to Seymour (i.e saving gas, getting to the train, just for fun). However, when First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis asked her fellow selectmen for a motion to approve a Memorandum of Understanding with Bird, Selectman Bob Findley made the motion, but none of the other selectmen would second it, rendering the proposal dead on arrival.
“I’m not comfortable with this because of our locale,” said Selectwoman Trish Danka. “The downtown is very small and if you can’t walk the downtown you probably wouldn’t be getting on a scooter anyhow.”
The scooters would not be allowed on sidewalks, and that made some of the selectmen even more concerned about them riding on busy roadways, in traffic.
“Route 67 is pretty hazardous and I have liability concerns,” said Selectman Chris Bowen.
While Lynch told the selectmen the town would not be on the hook for any costs associated with bringing the scooters in, or be liable for any accidents and related issues, the selectmen still remained unconvinced that scooters would be a good fit here.
“Just because there would be an indemnification agreement doesn’t mean the town wouldn’t be sued,” said Selectman Fred Stanek, who’s also an attorney. “This still potentially could cost us money. I don’t think Seymour is configured in a proper way for the use of these scooters. We don’t have a beach or a state park as a destination. And I see them having problems with traffic.”
Findley was the sole selectmen who voiced the slightest bit of support for giving the scooters a trial run.
“We have an opportunity to try this,” Findley said. “We see other towns are doing this, and they have been successful. But if Bird doesn’t find a business model in Seymour, then they wouldn’t keep the program here. Maybe we could do it as a pilot program, especially if there are no legal ramifications on the town side.”
Economic Development Consultant Sheila O’Malley said the idea of bringing scooters to town was to drum up some enthusiasm and excitement.
“This purely was to bring some attention, some enthusiasm and some fun to the downtown,” O’Malley said. “There is no obligation on the part of the town and no liability on the town’s part. It generates some excitement and fun and brings young people into the town, which is kind of what you want to do.”
O’Malley, who also serves as neighboring Ansonia’s economic development director and grants writer, said Ansonia is enjoying success with the Bird scooter program, which zipped into town this spring. The city initially started with about 50 scooters, but Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti recently said he expects Bird will be dropping off another 50 scooters soon to keep up with the demand, especially with new apartments coming online downtown.
Lynch said he chose Seymour because of its train station downtown, and anticipated riders using the scooters to get to and from the train.
“We see that as a popular use, especially people wanting to save gas these days,” Lynch said. “We’re just looking for a shot to see how the program would work here for a few months. We would evaluate the program and see how it goes.”
Lynch explained that the selectmen would have set the riding route and parameters of where the scooters would travel to and from. A fleet manager would have been in charge of placing the scooters in popular places, and managing everything else associated with the scooter usage, which is all done via an app on a smart phone that users would download.
