Fresh off my Lime scooter adventure, expectations were high for the supposedly faster Bird scooter. These expectations were not met.

To start, the scooters were sparsely scattered around Downtown Charlottesville. I passed by several tempting Lime scooters before finally locating one of their ‘avian’ counterparts. I noticed the first shortcoming as August sped ahead up the hills and lost me on the straights. The worst moment of our journey was when, without warning, my scooter died in the middle of Belmont Bridge crossing the lane of oncoming traffic. The scooter locked up, so I had no choice but to pick it up and carry it to safety. Luckily there was a flock of Bird scooters a short walk away from where I was stranded. These scooters led to an even bigger disappointment.

The first device that I paid to unlock did not work at all and I was forced to lock it and pay again to unlock a second. This second one had an issue where it would keep accelerating even without my hand on the trigger labeled “Go”. I discovered this fault when I almost drove into a car while stopped at a traffic light.

Nevertheless, the Bird did have its pluses. The shorter handlebar of the Bird was much more comfortable for me to control and reminiscent of riding my Razor Scooter around the neighborhood. The brakes (when they work) are also better on the Bird, as they are electric and provide a much smoother stop than on the Lime scooter.

Overall, I would choose to ride a Lime scooter because of the availability, speed, and apparent absence of the many flaws of the Bird scooters in my experience.