The Michigan Waterways Stewards says battery-powered Spin scooters have been ending up in the Red Cedar River at Michigan State University at an alarming rate. The group has removed almost e-scooters from Lansing area rivers since late , mostly on MSU's campus. Michigan Waterways Stewards. EAST LANSING, MI โ Electric scooter dumping has reached absurd levels at Michigan State University, where a conservation group says the grab-and-go vehicles around campus are constantly ending up in the river.
Five scooters were retrieved last week alone. Dumping of e-scooters โ a trendy love-or-hate powered transportation device in urban areas โ has become an escalating concern over the past year in East Lansing, where city leaders revoked the license of a struggling e-scooter company that university officials are maintaining ties with.
In , Michigan State contracted with Spin, a former subsidiary of Ford Motor Co. Vandals began tossing scooters in the river shortly after. The exact total number of e-scooters lost to the Grand and Red Cedar rivers is hard to determine, but Stout says it may be closer to when accounting for official retrievals.
Michigan Waterways Stewards formed in late and, that December, began pulling scooters and other debris from the Red Cedar River. Since then, the steward group has sought help from fishermen to pull scooters from the river using heavy-duty magnets thrown from bridges with a rope. As of August 15, Stout said the stewards have pulled scooters from Lansing area rivers โ some from the Grand River but most from the Red Cedar.
Lime, a Spin competitor, still has scooters in East Lansing. Michigan State University maintains its relationship with Spin, which was purchased by competitor Bird last year. Bird emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy this spring and operates Spin under a new parent entity called Third Lane Mobility. The university renewed its Spin contract in March. In response to MLive, MSU and Spin separately shared the same bulleted list, detailing nearly verbatim the actions being undertaken to mitigate campus scooter dumping.
