Cruising Downtown Detroit with Bird

This past weekend we headed to downtown Detroit for dinner and a night out to celebrate Marc's birthday.

It was a busy night downtown with a Tiger's game and a festival happening in Hart Plaza so getting around was more difficult than normal. Compounded with parking being a scarcity, we opted for an alternative mode to get around downtown—Bird. 

Bird, along with MoGo and the QLine, is among a growing list of mobility as a service (MaaS), options that are coming to downtown Detroit. These different types of transportation allows consumers more flexibility in getting around in congested urban areas.

Driven recently published a great case study of a young Detroit resident who lives, works, and spends his free time in the city but doesn't own a car. These MaaS options give him the ability to get to and from work as well as allow him to run errands and enjoy everything the city has to offer without the high cost of insurance, parking, and maintenance.

Another great use for those who commute into Detroit for work is the ability to make use of these MaaS options for last-mile mobility—meaning they commute in and park their personal vehicle in the outskirts of town and then utilize a public transit or another shared mobility option for the final leg of their journey. 

However in my case, Bird came to good use for a fun night out on the town. We started in Midtown, moved our way east and stopped to look at the new residential developments in Brush Park, grabbed coffee and headed down towards Hart Plaza and the river. On our way back to our car in Midtown we gave up our scooters and got some Detroit Water Ice before getting on the QLine.

In all, it was a great night and we were able to easily cover a lot of ground without the burden of traffic or finding parking!