2,500 motorized scooters returning to Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Motorized scooters are coming back to Minneapolis.

The City of Minneapolis announced Thursday that 2,500 motorized scooters will return to city streets this summer. Bird and Lyft are the two operators the city has signed agreements with for 2021.

2,500 motorized scooters returning to Minneapolis

Motorized scooters are coming back to Minneapolis.

Under the agreement, the operators can only put a maximum of 40 percent of the scooter fleet in downtown Minneapolis and its surrounding neighborhoods. At least 30 percent of the scooters have to be distributed in "areas of concentrated poverty in north, northeast and south Minneapolis," the city said in a release.

Low-income pricing options are also required by the operators as part of the city’s equity and safety priorities.

Scooters must follow the same laws as bicyclists citywide. They are not allowed to be ridden on sidewalks. The scooters also must be parked upright and locked to a municipal sign post or public bike rack after use.

The city's motorized scooter program was piloted in 2019 and returned again in 2020.

After the proliferation of the scooters in previous summers, the University of Minnesota outlined its own rules and regulations for scooters on campus.