After months of discussions, planning and changes to state legislation, electric scooters are just days away from being available in downtown Vicksburg.

Blue Duck, a San-Antonia-based company, announced Friday it will begin rolling out an electric scooter service in downtown Vicksburg on Sept. 17. It will be the first fleet of electric scooters launched in Mississippi.

“Vicksburg will be the first in the state of Mississippi to have electric scooters available to our residents and visitors,” Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said. “We selected Blue Duck Scooters because of their commitment to safety and operating responsibly. They have been working very closely with the city to do this right. These scooters will be good for tourism and for
attracting millennials downtown.”

The partnership between the city and Blue Duck began last fall and became a firm reality once the Legislature changed state legislation allowing the operation of electric scooters on city streets.

“This legislation marks a new era for shared micromobility in the state of Mississippi. Blue Duck is proud to partner with Vicksburg as the city leads the way, introducing e-scooters to residents and visitors alike,” said Megan McNamara, Blue Duck’s senior director of partnerships. “We know other cities across Mississippi will follow in Vicksburg’s footsteps and we are eager to collaborate with them to guide those initiatives.”

Blue Duck announced it would hire a local operations team and operate its scooters out of a local warehouse.

“The Blue Duck team will monitor scooter use continuously, and will be out in the field, inspecting scooters, removing any devices that need maintenance or charging,” the company said in a release. Scooters will also be sanitized “at least twice a day.”

“Blue Duck has implemented enhanced cleaning protocols to help combat the coronavirus. Scooters are sanitized daily in order to protect the health and safety of the community,” said Jeff Mangold, Blue Duck’s co-founder and senior director of fleet management. “As businesses reopen and regular activities resume, scooters provide a transportation option that allows people to maintain physical distancing measures.”

Blue Duck’s scooters will be to rent in downtown Vicksburg from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m., seven days a week. Riders must download the Blue Duck app from Apple’s App Store or Google Play and use their mobile phones to locate and unlock a scooter. Each Blue Duck scooter is equipped with GPS technology, which allows for geofencing to prevent them from being operated or parked in prohibited zone.

The official launch of the fleet in Vicksburg is scheduled to be during an event hosted at the Vicksburg Convention Center on Sept. 17.