Indianola City Council discussed on Jan. 26 the possibility of allowing the electric scooter company ‘Bird’ to bring their business to town.

According to The Des Moines Register, the Indianola City Council approved to research the usage of e-scooters and will look deeper into allowing the company, Bird, to operate here. Bird initially contacted the city in late 2020 and was eager to work with Indianola, given Simpson College’s location and town size.

Council members, Simpson faculty and Simpson students have all publicly supported the idea of bringing e-scooters to Indianola. Sophomore Olivia McKelvey, a criminal justice major, believes allowing Bird to operate in Indianola will provide easy transportation. 

“We need scooters because we don’t have any easy public transportation around here,” McKelvey said.

These e-scooters cost the city nothing and are easy to use. Users 18 and older download an app to their phone that locates these electric scooters around town and shows you where you can park them when finished. The app will charge the user $1 per ride and $0.15 per minute rented.

Sophomore Dylan Smith, an economics finance major, says scooters will benefit students who want to save gas. 

“I think it is a good idea. Some people don’t have reliable transportation, and others don’t want to drive their cars wasting gas,” said Smith.

Bird is a Santa Monica, California based company that has only been operating since Sept. 2017. They have electric scooters in Europe, North America, and the Middle East. Bird is a successful micro-mobility company that totaled up to 10 million rides in its first year. Bird has other competitors in the business, such as Lime, Spin, Lyft, and Wheels.

Freshman Kayla Yzaguirre, a business management major, said that bringing scooters to town sounds incredible. 

“I think that’s awesome, actually. It sounds convenient, especially because we students have to park so far away from our dorms and classes,” Yzaguirre said.