Bird scooters bring excitement to students and local businesses with their return to the city of Columbia

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Bird Scooters have returned to the city of Columbia, and the excitement can be felt by students and local downtown businesses.

Following a unanimously approved contract by the city council on March 15, Bird brought 500 scooters back to Columbia.

Bird Rides will pay an initial fee of $10,000 each to the City of Columbia and the University of Missouri plus $2.00 for every scooter operating. This will be split between the City and the University.

The electric Bird Scooter was originally pulled from the streets in November of 2019 when the City's contract with Bird scooters expired.

Bird Scooter has the ability to remove illegally parked scooters within two hours of the City notifying them.

Some of the rules laid out in the contract include: riding responsibly is required, no riding on sidewalks only on streets and where bike lanes are available, and all riders must have a valid driver's license to operate a scooter.

Maya Donnelly an employee from Seoul Taco told KMIZ they believe the Bird Scooters will help to increase their business.

"I feel like it might actually help because people don't feel like walking that far but maybe if they took a Bird Scooter we would get more people to come in," Donnelly said.

Students also expressed their excitement the scooters were back. Marry Fuller a student at the University of Missouri said it will be a lot easier for her to get around and it will make traveling easier in adverse weather.

"Especially in the winter when its really cold I never want to leave my dorm so it'll be really nice to have the scooters," Fuller said.

The first time Bird Scooters were in Columbia, business owners had concern over the lack of restrictions and the lack of docking areas.