St. Joseph City Commissioners are waiting on an update on the Bird Scooter situation from the company. Bird Scooters started offering motorized scooter rentals in town over Memorial Day weekend. Soon after, there were complaints about scooters being left all over the city and rider behavior. Bird later told commissioners it would reduce its number of scooters and hire a fleet manager for St. Joseph. During a Monday city commission meeting, City Manager John Hodgson said that fleet manager quit and said the program would not be profitable with fewer than 50 scooters in town. Mayor Lara Goos said the commission should wait to hear from Bird at its next meeting.
“I think Bird then also can tell us in two weeks because what John was told was there is no fleet manager now. So, if we can get to 50, then they would consider hiring one. So, it’s kind of chicken or egg, right? Do we want 50?”
Hodgson said Bird is trying to decide what to do. Bird had been operating around 20 scooters in the city. There were none on Monday. The commission can terminate the company’s contract at any time. We’ll know more in two weeks.
