In just over a month, Arizona State University has brought in nearly $80,000 in impound fees for dockless electric scooters left on its Tempe campus.

The school had impounded 888 scooters as of Thursday.

ASU said in October that it would not allow dockless scooter companies to continue operating on campus because of an existing ban, and impounding began nearly one month later.

Students clearly have not stopped using the scooters, though, as evidenced by the high number of impounds.

Bird, a Santa Monica-based company, has paid the most and had the most impounded scooters out of the four companies that have had impounded scooters at ASU.

Impound fees start at $100 per scooter and run up to $250 with additional violations.

Bird has paid $61,000 for impounded scooters since the school announced it would impound scooters on Nov. 16, ASU spokesman Jerry Gonzalez said in an email to The Arizona Republic. Bird scooters have been impounded 678 times; Bird has 26 scooters still waiting at ASU's impound yard, the school said.

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Lime, a company that has dockless bicycles and scooters, has paid ASU $10,225 in impound fees, ASU said. The company has had 133 impounded scooters, 51 of which are still in impound.

Razor has paid $6,100 for impounded scooters. The company had 57 scooters impounded, 21 of which are still awaiting pick-up at the impound yard.

Ofo, a bike-sharing company that apparently also has scooters in Tempe, has had 20 of its scooters impounded at ASU, but has not paid impound fees. The 20 scooters remain at ASU's impound yard.

In total, ASU has brought in $77,325 in impounded fees for 888 scooters. The fees pay for the costs associated with managing the scooters, including maintaining their parking areas and staff and logistical costs to collect the devices daily, Gonzalez said.

The school set up specific parking areas for dockless scooters, but the high number of impounds shows not all riders are using them.

Bird, Lime and Ofo have not responded to requests for comment on impounds at ASU.

Brandon Cheung, senior manager of government relations for Razor USA, said in an emailed statement: "We remain committed to maintaining an open and responsive relationship with ASU that reflects the interests of the university and its students."

The scooter landscape

The scooters are the next step after dockless bike-share programs blanketed the Valley. And, just like with the dockless bikes, cities are struggling with how to respond.

Dockless electric scooters showed up in Tempe earlier this year. The scooter companies don't typically ask city officials for permission before they arrive. While Tempe was the first, other Valley cities, including Scottsdale and Mesa, now have the scooters.

The scooters tend to be popular with users but come with concerns over public safety and how they coexist with existing forms of transportation. Across the country, cities have taken different steps to manage the scooters, from banning them to limiting them to instituting safety rules.

Tempe and Scottsdale have approved or are considering regulations to corral scooters, including limiting the number that can operate or dictating where they can be ridden or parked.

"Razor continues to work closely with Tempe officials on current and future rules and regulations that work best for the community," Cheung said in his statement.

Here's how the scooters work: People can sign up via each company's app. They scan a code on the scooters and are charged by the minute to ride them.

The scooters can go up to 15 mph and last about 15 miles per charge. Riders can dock them wherever they stop. The companies typically pick up the scooters daily to charge them.

Paying impound fees seems to be one of the costs of doing business for scooter companies. From Georgia to Michigan to Virginia to Indiana, scooters have been scooped up and impounded.

ASU's scooter history

In October, ASU told scooter companies they needed to stay off campus.

The school characterized its message to scooter companies as a reminder — a ban on motorized scooters like the ones popular now has been in place for quite some time.

A university policy that's been in place since 1963 prohibits scooters, the school said. The policy says motorized scooters, excluding scooters used by people with disabilities, cannot be operated on campus or brought into any campus buildings.

"The electric scooters that have recently become ubiquitous around Tempe and the ASU campus are a nuisance and potential danger when operated without the proper training and education," the university said in a statement in October announcing the ban.

But until mid-November, the school wasn't impounding scooters, saying at the time that it was giving scooter companies time to adjust before impounding and charging fees.

At that time, both Bird and Lime said they wanted to work with the university to come up with a way for them to operate on campus. The companies said they had informed their riders about ASU's new rules.

In November, Gonzalez, of ASU, said the "university understands that the scooters are a convenient form of transportation for students," so the school set up designated parking zones on the outer boundaries of campus. Students can ride scooters to the edge of campus and park them there, he said.

Reach reporter Rachel Leingang by email or by phone at 602-444-8157, or find her on Twitter and Facebook.

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