BIRD IS THE WORD: E-Scooter Rental Firm Lands in E.C.
firm founded by UWEC grad isn’t the first to serve city
Starting this week, a new e-scooter option is taking flight in Eau Claire. Bird – which serves hundreds of cities around the world – began renting a limited number of electric scooters in the UW-Eau Claire campus area as of Tuesday, Sept. 3. According to the City of Eau Claire, additional rental locations will be added in the near future, allow riders to zip around on errands or joyrides.
In case you’ve never happened across a flock of them in an urban area, Bird scooters are rentable through a mobile app and can be picked up and dropped off at designated locations around town. Users will pay $1 to unlock a scooter and 39 to 41 cents per minute to ride them (although longer-term passes and low-income discounts are available). The scooters are subject to “geofencing” – meaning they’ll stop working once they leave a certain designated area. At the moment, that area consists of downtown, the UWEC campus, the Third Ward, the Eastside Hill, and some adjacent areas.
Bird isn’t the first scooter-rental option available in Eau Claire: Since the summer of 2023, The Local Store (which shares ownership with Volume One magazine) has been renting e-scooters for use around town. These scooters are intended to be rented for longer increments, and are available starting at $28 for two hours (notably compared with $50 for two hours for Bird!) and can be used by individuals or even groups for outings of a dozen or more users.
The Eau Claire City Council first passed an ordinance allowing private e-scooter rental in 2021. In a media release, the City of Eau Claire stated it “will be working closely with BIRD and their local contractor to work through the complexities of launching this promising program that has the potential to be an eco-friendly transportation option for residents and a fun diversion and way for visitors to explore Eau Claire.”
“BIRD scooters will be monitored and maintained daily, and redistributed throughout the city multiple times daily,” the news release stated.
The city noted that scooters must be parked in designated locations and that noncompliance could lead to fines. Furthermore, scooters are not allowed on sidewalks downtown or in other designated business districts, where riders will see blue “Walk Your Wheels” signs. Disobeying the ordinance could lead to a $213.10 fine.
Bird was founded in 2017 and grew rapidly to serve the expanding demand for urban scooters – or, as the company describes it, “the micromobility market.” The company was founded by UW-Eau Claire alumnus Travis VanderZanden, who left the firm in 2023. Bird filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, but emerged in early 2024 under the ownership of a newly organized parent company, Third Land Mobility Inc.
