Scooters Back on Nashville Streets

Nashville awoke Friday morning to a new brand of transportation. Lime’s bright-green version of dockless scooters were positioned around the city, two days after Mayor David Briley signed legislation paving the way for Lime and other companies like it to operate on city streets.

Bird scooters will return Saturday, according to a company spokesperson. Bird ceased operations in Nashville in June amidst a legal battle with the city. Over the summer, the Metro Council passed new regulations for dockless scooter and bicycle companies.

Metro Councilmember Freddie O’Connell praised Lime in a press release for its “thoughtful, patient approach to entering the Nashville market that both allowed for and included valuable contributions to an important policy discussion."

“I only wish their competitors had behaved similarly,” he wrote.

Bird, on the other hand, launched its product unannounced.

Lime scooters cost $1 to unlock and 15 cents per minute of riding. The scooters, like Bird’s scooters, are collected and charged overnight before redistribution.

The new regulations include rules for where and how the scooters can be parked and driven. Lime will distribute up to 500 scooters in the next month.

“Nashville has traffic problems that are getting worse by the day, and we need new and alternative transportation options like dockless scooters and bicycles to help them,” Metro Councilmember Jeremy Elrod, who sponsored the regulation bill, said in the Lime announcement.