Second fleet of scooters appears
The Bird brand has rolled out several hundred powered scooters in our streets, to compete with Lime. Toula Drimonis wrote recently about how these companies simply release their vehicles into a city, making the public forces of order deal with the consequences.
Chris 09:03 on 2019-09-20 Permalink
This was of course the same with cars, companies built them, people bought them, used them on public roads, and the public dealt with their consequences.
One difference this time is that though you can buy your own scooter, it’s not actually legal to ride one! Only this legally forced duopoly is allowed. Imagine if you could only use cars from two City approved car companies.
I wonder if Bird will become a verb like in California. “I’ll meet you soon, I’ll bird there now.”
Michael Black 09:05 on 2019-09-20 Permalink
I joked in rehab that they should put some electric scooters on the floor to represent obstacles on the sidewalk. But on Wednesday we went around the block, and there was a green Lime scooter leaning against a car. Not as bad as lying sideways on the sidewalk, but it seemed so stupid it seemed like it might have been deliberate. That was in CDN next to Martin Luther King Park (previously Kent
And the day before), someone on a Lime scooter whizzed by, I didn’t notice a helmet), on the sidewalk, using the wheelchair ramp at the corner to get onto the sidewalk.
Considering I haven’t been out much since the end of March, this makes it seem like these things are common. Time will tell since I finally got out Wednesday evening, thiugh I won’t be going for long walks for a while.
Michael
jeather 13:55 on 2019-09-20 Permalink
I just saw two today in the dead centre of the sidewalk, blocking everything. I was wondering what they were.
Ephraim 15:08 on 2019-09-20 Permalink
$1.15 to start and $0.35 a minute and geofenced (as Lime should be). Lime is $1 to start and $0.30 a minute. I’m wondering why Bird would think that they are worth 16% more than Lime scooters.
Faiz Imam 16:04 on 2019-09-20 Permalink
Particularly since Lime has the advantage of the Uber app, which many thousands of people already have. Bird is starting from scratch.
I’ve known about bird for years because I follow this stuff, but how are most people suppose to be onboarded? The only way i can think of is them literally finding one on the street and following the instructions to get the app.
The higher price is not particularly impressive, especially with Bixi being so much cheaper.
Blork 23:04 on 2019-09-20 Permalink
I don’t think Lime is connected to Uber. Perhaps you’re thinking of Jump bikes (which is Uber) and their advantage over Bixi.
Blork 23:08 on 2019-09-20 Permalink
I stand corrected… apparently Uber and Lime have a deal, so you can rent your Lime through the Uber app.
Faiz Imam 00:50 on 2019-09-21 Permalink
Yup, Uber took a significant minority stake in Lime last year.