St. Joseph City Commissioners have gotten word Bird Scooters is ending its scooter rental service in the community. At a Monday meeting, City Manager John Hodgson said Bird sent word this month it was ending service in St. Joseph in 30 days. Commissioners allowed Bird to rent out electric scooters starting Memorial Day weekend, but it got off to a rocky start. Attempts were made to adjust the model used by Bird, but then the company lost its local manager. Hodgson told WSJM News it just didn’t work out.
“The city commission had looked at this as an experiment,” Hodgson said. “Kind of the unfortunate thing about it is I don’t think the experiment ever really happened. It started out a little unusual, and by the time we had our arms around it and had a better understanding of how scooters might work and the kind of regulations and things that might help them work best in our community, they had lost a local manager and they never really reestablished a presence.”
Mayor Laura Goos said it’s “too bad,” while Commissioner Lynn Todman said, “We tried.” Bird has also notified the city of Benton Harbor it will be pulling out of town.
