Is There A Solution To This Bozeman Eyesore? It’s Out Of Hand

Everywhere I go lately, I can't help but see one of these...or two...or even three. It's getting a bit out of hand and I know I'm not the only one that thinks this.

Just how many of these eyesores are in Bozeman? This is shocking! I mean, I knew there were a lot, but this is just insane!

I am constantly seeing posts on social media asking the same question I have regarding these "eyesores". And that question is, "why the h*** are there scooters all over town?" Who is in charge of picking these things up and taking care of them?

You know the scooters I am talking about. The ones you see people riding on the sidewalks, which it actually says "do not ride on the sidewalk", and then they just ditch them wherever they want. The side of a building, a business parking lot, and the middle of a walkway. Legit, they just drop and go and it's incredibly annoying.

As I am looking at this eyesore, I find it funny that you "can't ride them on the sidewalk" but you can just ditch it there I guess. That makes sense.

I have no clue how these things work. So I decided to try and figure it out which was easy because, you know, they're literally everywhere. If I was a business owner or a homeowner and every single day these scooters were just parked or thrown on my lawn, I would not be happy.

I downloaded the Bird App so I could see what the cost was to use one. Thinking, "Maybe the person who rented it ran out of money."

Here is the breakdown:

$1 initial fee

$0.42 per minute after

$3.50 minimum charge

Or you can use one of these "Bird Cash" specials.

I went through the Bird App trying to find if there was an "I'm done riding, now what" button, a "return here" spot, or even a "notify company of completed ride" tab. There is nothing, so I guess that is part of the reason they are ditched all over town.

I did find this, which I thought was rather ironic, under the "how to ride" tab. As you can clearly see it will tell you what NOT to do, so this just tells me people can't read or follow instructions.

How can we fix this eyesore problem we have here in Bozeman? Maybe the people in charge of them need to have a designated "return" spot or two and if they are not returned to that specific location, the "renter" is charged an additional $10. Perhaps the city needs to step up and say, "we are charging the Bird company $10 for every scooter we have to pick up and return".

What do you think? Is there a solution to this nuisance?