Bird along with Lime, Skip, and Spin, are some of the leading companies for scooter rental. Bird, on their mobile app, describes the scooters as something that you can use for “your work commute, across college campuses, with friends, or simply just to spread your wings and get some fresh air!”

All of the major companies describe them in similar ways because it urges college students to use them to go to classes more quickly. All of these companies have partnered with college campuses to allow students to get around more easily.

Jason Gelb ’22 comments, “I think electric scooters are a great addition to allow people to get around our city of Minneapolis while being eco and time friendly.”

Yoli Pauly ’21 describes her own experience riding the scooter and shares, “At first, I had trouble riding it because I was not the best at driving anything that was two-wheeled and it can go pretty fast, but after a while, I got the hang of it and really enjoyed it.”

There are requirements put in place to make these electric scooters safe. A major requirement is that the rider must have a valid license. This is needed because people with a license understand street signs and the laws of driving.

Anil Chandiramani, 9th and 12th-grade English teacher remarks that “[Electric scooters] sounds like it could be fun, but it also sounds like it could be unsafe. I would say it would be safer to have a regulatory agency such as a scooter police. I would also say that more laws around safety should be added such as required helmets, goggles, headlights at night, no scootering on sidewalks, and only in the bike lane.” With winter coming, who knows how safe these scooters will turn out to be.