3 ms·

Well, that's going to kill Bird.

ThomPete 8y ago
We will see. Been "workating" with my family in LA for a few weeks and we ended up using Bird much more especially because it looks like Lime require you to pay in bundles (10usd) and there are just way more Birds available than Limes. It might change now that Uber is involved but they would have to increase their scooters fleet quite a lot I think. Been interesting because in New York Bird isn't something people talk about where as here it was everywhere (didn't hurt we lived at Venice beach either). One thing I realized is how much the ability to just leave your bird/lime anywhere and just pick it up where it is, affects your desire to use it. We will see the same uptick in bicycles in NY I think once you are not required to park them at specific places. It's a little bit of a mess though especially down on the beach promenae but I think there are plenty of ways to encourage good behavior.
- tomjen3 8y ago
  You should be able to get mostly the same benefit if there was plenty of places to park them. I could theoretically rent a bicycle, but there are only four places I could park it.
- ageitgey 8y ago
  Where I live (San Diego), Lime and Bird have swapped places a couple of times for who has the most scooters on the street. They are both being really aggressive in increasing the number of units. It's not uncommon to see 10 of each lined up on a sidewalk. It's also been fun to watch both companies experiment and revise their hardware. The original Lime scooters were slow and the Bird scooters were much stronger. With the v2 of each, it is reversed. But from what I've heard second hand, increasing the number of units on the street isn't that expensive. I've heard that the units cost them in bulk ~$250 each and they quickly (< 3 months) earn that back. So the investment to blanket a city with scooters is way less than you'd expect and not the main barrier to entry. Of course that's second hand, so I could be totally wrong.
  - kylehotchkiss 8y ago
    I love riding them at mission beach! I was sort of sad about the version 2. It had a speedometer but only would go 10mph, and the brake was so weird. The version 1s are much better.
  - ThomPete 8y ago
    Agressive is the right word I think Bird has the former Uber head of growth.
- jczhang 8y ago
  Lime doesn't require you to pay in bundles. There have been some days where I've seen more Limes around than Birds.
  - xur17 8y ago
    It required me to after my second ride. I went to rent another scooter, and it forced me to load a balance onto my account first. I would have just switched to Bird at that point, but there were no scooters nearby.
enroxorz 8y ago
I doubt it. The market is diverse enough to enjoy both products. I like Bird (in San Antonio) and hope that it either gets acquired by Lyft or becomes strong independently.
kylec 8y ago
Having tried both Bird and Lime in San Jose, I definitely prefer Bird. Both the Bird app and the scooter itself provide a better user experience than the Lime app/scooter, plus there were way more of them around. I feel like Uber backed the wrong horse here.

We will see. Been "workating" with my family in LA for a few weeks and we ended up using Bird much more especially because it looks like Lime require you to pay in bundles (10usd) and there are just way more Birds available than Limes. It might change now that Uber is involved but they would have to increase their scooters fleet quite a lot I think. Been interesting because in New York Bird isn't something people talk about where as here it was everywhere (didn't hurt we lived at Venice beach either). One thing I realized is how much the ability to just leave your bird/lime anywhere and just pick it up where it is, affects your desire to use it. We will see the same uptick in bicycles in NY I think once you are not required to park them at specific places. It's a little bit of a mess though especially down on the beach promenae but I think there are plenty of ways to encourage good behavior.

tomjen3 8y ago
You should be able to get mostly the same benefit if there was plenty of places to park them. I could theoretically rent a bicycle, but there are only four places I could park it.
ageitgey 8y ago
Where I live (San Diego), Lime and Bird have swapped places a couple of times for who has the most scooters on the street. They are both being really aggressive in increasing the number of units. It's not uncommon to see 10 of each lined up on a sidewalk. It's also been fun to watch both companies experiment and revise their hardware. The original Lime scooters were slow and the Bird scooters were much stronger. With the v2 of each, it is reversed. But from what I've heard second hand, increasing the number of units on the street isn't that expensive. I've heard that the units cost them in bulk ~$250 each and they quickly (< 3 months) earn that back. So the investment to blanket a city with scooters is way less than you'd expect and not the main barrier to entry. Of course that's second hand, so I could be totally wrong.
- kylehotchkiss 8y ago
  I love riding them at mission beach! I was sort of sad about the version 2. It had a speedometer but only would go 10mph, and the brake was so weird. The version 1s are much better.
- ThomPete 8y ago
  Agressive is the right word I think Bird has the former Uber head of growth.
jczhang 8y ago
Lime doesn't require you to pay in bundles. There have been some days where I've seen more Limes around than Birds.
- xur17 8y ago
  It required me to after my second ride. I went to rent another scooter, and it forced me to load a balance onto my account first. I would have just switched to Bird at that point, but there were no scooters nearby.

enroxorz 8y ago

I doubt it. The market is diverse enough to enjoy both products. I like Bird (in San Antonio) and hope that it either gets acquired by Lyft or becomes strong independently.

kylec 8y ago

Having tried both Bird and Lime in San Jose, I definitely prefer Bird. Both the Bird app and the scooter itself provide a better user experience than the Lime app/scooter, plus there were way more of them around. I feel like Uber backed the wrong horse here.