The idea to open a motorized scooter rental store came to Bryan Donovan during a football weekend in State College last fall.
“A buddy of mine and I observed students crammed into bus stops and a crowded downtown full of vehicles, and that’s when opportunity struck,” says Donovan, the owner and president of Campus Skooters.
A conversation about scooters followed and the next day Donovan started drawing up a rough business plan to figure out how to make scooter transportation affordable to students, residents and tourists.
Campus Skooters, located in the Hills Plaza shopping center on South Atherton Street, opened in April with a fleet of 30 scooters that reach a top speed of 35 mph. They are all fully-insured and because their motors are smaller than 50CC, no special license is needed to drive one around town. All customers need is a valid driver’s license.
“We provide rider training for everyone that rents our scooters,” Donovan says. “Whether it is the first time that you have ever been on a two-wheeled vehicle or you have been riding all of your life, we make sure that riders are comfortable with operating the scooter and educated on safety before turning them loose on the roads.”
Donovan says convenience is one of the major advantages to renting a scooter in a college town like State College.
Blaze Feury, a senior and PSU rugby player, says he and a few of his teammates rented scooters while they were preparing to play in a rugby tournament. The players were able to save their legs for the competition by riding the scooters.
“The rugby fields are on the other side of campus from our house and it made it a lot easier to get to practice,” Feury says.
Feury had a scooter for four weeks and says he only had to fill up the tank once. And since the 1.4 gallon tanks get about 150 miles, he saved a lot of money on gas.
“And we rode around a lot,” he says.
Over a 16-week rental period, customers pay $44.95 a week. It’s $34.95 per week for Penn State students and faculty. Shorter rental periods are also available, as well as weekly and daily options.
The business has been slowly gaining momentum and Donovan says he expects to get busier during the weeks leading up to the fall semester as students move back into town and “discover that our scooters are a much better option than bringing their car to college.”
Feury says the possibility of him renting a scooter when he returns in the fall is pretty good.
“It would be hard to imagine living up here without one,” he says.
In addition to renting scooters, the store offers guided scooter tours of Penn State, downtown State College and historic Boalsburg.
Click HERE to find out more about scooter rentals and guided tours.
