SAN FRANCISCO—Bird, the e-scooter company, will reappear in San Francisco after acquiring rival company Scoot.

Bird is one of three scooter companies, the others being Lime and Spin, that were removed from the city of San Francisco in 2018 for starting operations without permission from the city. Scoot is only one of two scooter companies that are permitted to operate in the city; Skip being the other company.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is allowing Scoot to continue operations because of their record with San Francisco’s Powered Scooter Share Pilot Program, the application program that companies go through in order to obtain a permit to operate in the city.

The companies must adhere to specific guidelines to continue operations in the city including maintain the same amount of employees that Scoot has and maintain the company’s standard of pay and benefits for their employees.

“We approved the transfer of ownership based on a review of the request and on their assurances to meet the goals of Scooter Share Pilot,” said Paul Rose, SFMTA spokesperson, in a statement.

The purchase of Scoot did not automatically allow the company could continue to operate in the city because of “backdoor” permit purchases. When a company purchases an e-scooter company with a permit, Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin has the power to re-evaluate the permit.

Reiskin, on Tuesday, June 11, released a list of conditions they must follow. Bird and Scoot must abide by the terms and conditions in the Scooter Permit and Moped Permit, pay the city any outstanding balances that Scoot might have in its permit programs, and continue to meet the standards Scoot committed to during the permit application.