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Blue Duck agrees to Corpus Christi's dollar-per-scooter daily fee

Blue Duck said they will not be passing any new fees to their riders in the near future.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — There is a new agreement that scooter rental companies must sign with the City of Corpus Christi, but as of Friday only one had complied.

Last week Corpus Christi's city council approved an ordinance that would cost the rental companies $1 per day per scooter operating in the city. The companies were given 10 business days to sign the licensing agreement.

As of Friday, only Blue Duck had signed.

City officials said the fee is aimed at generating enough money to cover any future problems that may happen, like sidewalk improvements and pedestrian safety issues. The fee will also serve to reimburse the City for administering the dock-less vehicle program.

The fee was actually proposed by Bird, one of the scooter companies operating in Corpus Christi.

UPDATE: 'Bird' scooter rental company leaving Corpus Christi

The agreement also allows for a six-month pilot program to studying how the scooters can operate, where they should be parked, and what would be considered "the right of way" when scooters are involved.

Blue Duck said they will not be passing any new fees to their riders in the near future. They said they believe it's something they will be able to sustain with their ridership.

"We've raised quite a bit of capitol and in theory, the market will support," said Casey Whittington, Blue Duck's national director of government affairs. "We fully believe the Corpus market, through our data so far, can easily support the dollar-per-day fee we're going to be paying for these scooters."

After the six-month pilot program, details will be released and companies that have signed the license will be able to bring new ideas to the city.

As of Friday, Lime and Bird scooter companies had not yet signed the license agreement with the City. They have until Monday, Jan. 28, to do so.

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