The Student Government Association launched Yeti scooters Wednesday at 1 p.m.
There are only 30 for this semester as a soft launch.
“It’s not going to be that much right now,” said SGA president Greydon Turner in the SGA meeting Wednesday. “There are going to be launching 75 more in the spring semester … It will be on campus. If any of your friends have any concerns or complaints, just bring them to SGA so we can get that squared out.”
SGA will be receiving money for having the scooters on campus.
SGA went through the process of launching scooters on campus with Bird Scooters last year.
The company eventually pulled out at the spring semester, citing reasons that Russellville could not be a continued source of income.
Unlike Bird, there will be more “dedicated employees” for charging, according to Turner.
There will be an interview process rather than just signing up on the app, with only around five to 10 employees available to charge.
“The owner of the company is a Tech alumni, so that changes things a little bit,” Turner said. “He wants to give back to the community. I think he understands where Bird went wrong is having so many scooters in the town that were unused and still having to pay chargers every night to go charge all of those.”
An app has to be downloaded called “Yeti Scooters” to begin riding. The app gives guidelines such as “where to ride and park.”
Riding outside the geo-fence will disable the scooter, as well as riding for over 240 minutes. If the scooter is left outside of the geo-fence, a pick-up fee of five dollars will be charged.
At the end of the ride, individuals must return it to a designated drop-off.
The scooters are one dollar to unlock, plus 15 cents per minute to ride. A pick-up fee will be charged if the scooter is not returned to a designated drop-off.
“I think they’ll be here to stay for a while,” said Turner.
