Unlocking the potential of electric scooters could have huge benefits for London
By: Patrick Studener
Tags: Transportation, Sustainability, London

Bird arrives at the Move Conference

I was in London this week speaking at the Move conference. The conference’s mission is “to create the world’s most important mobility event, where disruptive technology and innovation drive much needed change.” It’s not lost on me that it took place in London , one of the most congested cities in the world — and one that desperately needs to re-think mobility. In fact the average speed of a car in the city centre is now just over six miles per hour and it’s getting slower. Congestion has not only brought London to a standstill, it also means the city has some of the highest levels of urban pollution in Europe. The problem is so bad that the UK has been referred to Europe’s highest court for failing to tackle the illegal levels of air pollution.

I’ve been inspired by some of the talks I’ve heard. It’s exciting that London has set itself the goal to reduce car dependency and transition 80 percent of trips to foot, bicycle and other sustainable modes of transport including scooters alongside public transport by 2041. I fully agree with my fellow speakers that rapid changes are needed to achieve this goal. While there is no silver bullet, giving Londoners access to greener transport solutions is a big step in the right direction.

Bird’s mission is a simple one — to make cities more livable. We can do this by reducing car trips and the resulting traffic and emissions with an environmentally friendly and convenient alternative to the car. Bird’s smartphone app enables you to locate and ride our network of dockless electric scooters in cities. When you’ve arrived at your destination you simply park the scooter in a convenient place and end your ride from within the app.

We continue to be humbled by the adoption of our service in the cities we operate in, which goes to show how passionate people are about solving congestion and air quality problems in their communities. In our first 12 months of operation, people around the world took more than 10 million rides on our electric scooters in over 100 cities. If these rides had been carried out in a car instead, an estimated 12.7 million additional pounds of CO2 would have been emitted into the atmosphere.

Closer to home we launched our service in Paris last summer. We’ve been blown away by how Parisians have taken to Bird. In fact 71% of electric scooter riders in the city now use their cars less; and perhaps more interesting is that a third of our riders use Birds to connect to the existing public transport network. We believe we could have the same impact in London.

At Bird we work closely with the cities we operate in to ensure Bird complements the existing public transport network. When we launch in a new city we always start with a small number of scooters, only adding new ones when we know there is demand for them. We also look at where the scooters are being used, so unlike docked solutions, we can position the scooters in the right places and the right times. At night we stop riders being able to use the service, not only does this make it safer, it also gives us the opportunity to charge and maintain the scooters. This helps to ensure tidy roads. So while we want to grow, we want to do so responsibly and in partnership with cities throughout Europe. I’m proud that as a result of our approach every city we have entered in the region has welcomed us and continues to support us.

Safety First…Always wear a helmet!

As a business we’re obsessed with safety and we have a number of policies and initiatives in place. We require all riders to be 18 or older before they can ride, even when the law may allow for younger riders. All riders consent to a safety agreement with Bird, and those who do not act responsibly will no longer have access to the app. Bird also promotes the use of helmets and has given away tens of thousands of them in the cities we operate in.

In November last year we launched the UK’s first ever electric scooter pilot on private land in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to give Londoners a taste of how our scooters can improve mobility. It’s no secret that our ambition is to launch the service more broadly in the UK so we can start playing a role in helping cities become cleaner and less congested — however, under current regulations this is sadly not possible. While we have seen many countries adopt policies to enable electric scooters, this has not yet happened in the UK.

Try out Bird in the Queen Elizabeth Park!

In most of the cities we operate in electric scooters are regulated the same way as a bicycle, so they can be ridden in bike lanes and roads. We believe London would benefit hugely from Bird not only because London has invested heavily in cycling infrastructure but also because in the first week of our small pilot, we saw over 1,000 people download the app and take their first ride. We’re confident this is something people in London want.

Bird, the policy makers and the people they represent all share a common goal — to make our towns and cities better places to live and work. While we appreciate electric scooters are new, we hope our trial and the example we have set in other countries will demonstrate how electric scooters can play a vital role in cutting congestion and the associated pollution. Ultimately, however, it is up to the Government to give us a chance.

The UK has always been at the forefront of innovation. In a world where major European cities are embracing electric scooters, it would be unlikely that people here will want to be left behind. Cities like Paris and Vienna have already embraced these new forms of clean mobility and we remain optimistic that the UK will follow.