Soon Carson-Newman students will zip and zoom around campus on Bird Scooters.
Bird Scooters are motorized scooters that you rent with your smartphone app.
The University plans to get 100 of them on Jan. 17, and it says it's the first college in Tennessee to get them.
Bird Scooters are already in cities like Nashville and Memphis -- but banned in Knoxville, amidst complaints and injuries across the country.
The scooters are $1 to unlock and $0.15 to $0.20 per minute to ride.
“The Bird is 100 percent worth every penny that I’ll have to pay for that thing, it is amazing,” student Hunter Sales said.
“I’m going to get to every class on time and I’m never going to be late,” student Riley Carpenter said.
Carson-Newman administrators wanted to bring the scooters to campus, and earlier this week the city approved the scooters only on campus streets and sidewalks.
That way students can’t ride or park the scooters all over Jefferson City—thanks to Bird technology. The app and GPS control the scooter’s movements.
“We can control where the Birds go, we can control how fast they go, we can control what areas of campus they’re allowed to be on or not allowed to be on,” associate marketing director Todd Turpin said. “If they are outside of a zone we have deemed a rideable zone, it’s basically a paperweight.”
Bird Scooters are in cities all over the country, and with them have come some serious injuries. For instance, in May, two women were critically injured in Nashville after getting hit by a car.
Carson-Newman students believe their classmates will be smart about it.
“Obviously you have to mind your surroundings and don’t do anything crazy on them,” Sales said.
“Be cool, be an adult, be safe,” Carpenter said.
Bird lists its rules on the scooter and the app—the first of which is you must wear a helmet.
Carson-Newman will host launch programs for campus next semester where it will have free helmets and free rides.