KTLA

Bird scooters a lame duck in West Hollywood, council decides

If you’re a fan of Bird scooters, you’re about to be out of luck in West Hollywood.

On Monday, the City Council decided that Lime is the only company allowed to provide e-scooter and e-bike services beginning on April 1.

For an 18-month period beginning in April, Lime will operate up to 200 e-scooters and 50 bicycles in the city’s 1.9 square miles.

Bird, meanwhile, will have to cease operating in the city after March 31.

Lime scooters are seen in a file image. (Credit: KTLA)

“As part of the existing contract, and with this West Hollywood City Council decision, Bird is responsible for removing its devices from the City of West Hollywood at the end of its current contract period,” a city spokesperson told KTLA.

Until 2021, e-scooters and e-bikes could ride through West Hollywood but could not start or stop inside city limits.

That restriction was lifted by the City Council so that a pilot program could begin. The action taken on Monday night is the beginning of “the next phase of the City’s e-scooters and e-bikes program,” the spokesperson said.

Sofia Pop Perez contributed to this report.