henryaj@lopers.unk.edu 

In 2019, UNK approved a contract that would allow dockless electric scooters on campus. These scooters were available for student use with a rental fee of 15 cents for every minute used. 

Students were able to use these scooters on campus, allowing for quicker and more entertaining trips to class.

“I always tried to get my friends to hop on with me,” said Diana Ramirez, a junior majoring in sociology. “It was just something fun to do to kind of ‘get away’ from school responsibilities and to just live a little.” 

The scooters were popular at the time with a number of students using them to navigate around campus. However, in March of 2020 the scooter’s time on campus was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

With the pandemic cutting the scooter’s time on campus to only a few months, some students hoped they would make a comeback.

“I really enjoyed them, we were really hoping they’d be back once everything calmed down,” said Skylar Herrick, a junior majoring in communication disorders. 

With new regulations and safety measures, having the scooters back on campus seemed like a possibility as the pandemic’s impact begins to decrease.

However, campus business leadership indicates that the scooters won’t be back any time soon. 

“Unfortunately, our contract with the scooter company has ended, and at this time they will not be returning to campus” said Michael Christen, director of business services. 

Though the scooters will not be coming back to campus at this time, some students remain hopeful for scooters in the future.