Nashville gets the dockless scooter-sharing service Bird

Bird, the ride sharing electric scooter service, officially launched in Nashville on Monday in downtown and its nearest neighborhoods.

The initial fleet includes 100 scooters in downtown, the Gulch, Music Row, Midtown, Germantown and East Nashville.

Bird pitches its service as a "last mile" solution to commutes, or for trips that are too far to walk.

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Bird does not use docks, so users can park their scooters at the end of their ride. At the end of the day, the scooters are collected and returned to their nests to recharge. From there riders can pick the scooters up in the morning.

Riders use the scooters in bike lanes.

"Right now, 40% of cars trips in the U.S. are less than two miles long. Bird's mission is to replace these trips -- get people out of their cars, reduce traffic and congestion, and cut carbon emissions."

The California-based company announced in April that it surpassed 1 million riders. Using data from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, that equates to saving 445,334 pounds of carbon emissions, according to the company.

A Bird ride costs $1 plus 15 cents for each additional minute, meaning a 10-minute ride costs $2.50.

Additionally, Bird returns $1 per vehicle daily to the city governments to build bike lanes, "promote safe riding" and maintain infrastructure.

Reach Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 and nrau@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tnnaterau.