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Bird's big mistake is they chose a particularly stupid variety of a business plan here - if they'd done something like selling the scooters for cost but making

Bird's big mistake is they chose a particularly stupid variety of a business plan here - if they'd done something like selling the scooters for cost but making people pay a subscription to use it or something, they'd be free & clear, because what people did with their scooters wouldn't be Bird's problem. Bird's mistake is that every Bird scooter is owned by Bird Inc., which means Bird Inc. is held accountable for every stupid thing someone does with a Bird scooter.

Zak 4y ago
Why would anyone buy a scooter that they have to pay a subscription to use? Scooters without subscription fees are available for purchase.
- roughly 4y ago
  I don’t care, that’s not the point. The point is Bird retained ownership of all its scooters, and so it retained liability for its scooters, which is why it’s having to pay fines. If they’d managed a business model that doesn’t maintain a giant scooter fleet and all the liability on their books, this’d be a different story.
  - urfullofsht 4y ago
    [dead]
  - pksebben 4y ago
    not to mention, there's a method for solving this problem that exists. Bird probably just didn't want to do it because of cost. I'm nyc, citibikes don't have this problem; because you have to park them in a dock, thus releasing the bike back into the care (and liability) of the citibikes program (which isn't a problem, because now the bike is in a dock and not strewn about like trash). These scooter companies are a menace, and the model they operate on is "take it as far as we can get away with at lowest possible dollar wherever will allow us to get away with it". Makes me wonder how much they paid the chronicle for this piece, frankly.
    - candiodari 4y ago
      Ever notice how bikes parked into docks has been an attempted business model since like the 1960s? Note the absence of such bikes today in pretty much all cities worldwide ... Docks make the business model unrealistic too.
      - orwin 4y ago
        I mean, I'm French, I know we're weird. I'm also from La Rochelle (half of me is) and our most beloved mayor decided to dump 350 yellow bike all around the city in 76. Free to use. I've lived in Paris, La Rochelle, Rennes, Lille, Nantes. I do not remember one city I've lived in without docked bikes. And La Rochelle is quite small, with a population of 80k.
      - roughly 4y ago
        > Note the absence of such bikes today in pretty much all cities worldwide I do not note this. My city has docked bikes, and has for a decade. They’ve been in NYC for the same period, Portland has them as well, and I seem to recall seeing them in New Orleans, too. I believe Boston also has a system. Hell, even Riverside had one, last time I was there. Come to think of it, I’m struggling to think of a city I’ve been to recently that Didn’t have a docked bike share.
        Fatnino 4y ago
        Chicago has them.
        jwestbury 4y ago
        And yet, I see twenty Lime bikes in London for every Boris bike I see. Docked bikes are not a popular business model, not even when heavily subsidised.
- uberman 4y ago
  People lease cars all the time. Is that not essentially the same thing?

Zak 4y ago

Why would anyone buy a scooter that they have to pay a subscription to use? Scooters without subscription fees are available for purchase.

roughly 4y ago
I don’t care, that’s not the point. The point is Bird retained ownership of all its scooters, and so it retained liability for its scooters, which is why it’s having to pay fines. If they’d managed a business model that doesn’t maintain a giant scooter fleet and all the liability on their books, this’d be a different story.
- urfullofsht 4y ago
  [dead]
- pksebben 4y ago
  not to mention, there's a method for solving this problem that exists. Bird probably just didn't want to do it because of cost. I'm nyc, citibikes don't have this problem; because you have to park them in a dock, thus releasing the bike back into the care (and liability) of the citibikes program (which isn't a problem, because now the bike is in a dock and not strewn about like trash). These scooter companies are a menace, and the model they operate on is "take it as far as we can get away with at lowest possible dollar wherever will allow us to get away with it". Makes me wonder how much they paid the chronicle for this piece, frankly.
  - candiodari 4y ago
    Ever notice how bikes parked into docks has been an attempted business model since like the 1960s? Note the absence of such bikes today in pretty much all cities worldwide ... Docks make the business model unrealistic too.
    - orwin 4y ago
      I mean, I'm French, I know we're weird. I'm also from La Rochelle (half of me is) and our most beloved mayor decided to dump 350 yellow bike all around the city in 76. Free to use. I've lived in Paris, La Rochelle, Rennes, Lille, Nantes. I do not remember one city I've lived in without docked bikes. And La Rochelle is quite small, with a population of 80k.
    - roughly 4y ago
      > Note the absence of such bikes today in pretty much all cities worldwide I do not note this. My city has docked bikes, and has for a decade. They’ve been in NYC for the same period, Portland has them as well, and I seem to recall seeing them in New Orleans, too. I believe Boston also has a system. Hell, even Riverside had one, last time I was there. Come to think of it, I’m struggling to think of a city I’ve been to recently that Didn’t have a docked bike share.
      - Fatnino 4y ago
        Chicago has them.
      - jwestbury 4y ago
        And yet, I see twenty Lime bikes in London for every Boris bike I see. Docked bikes are not a popular business model, not even when heavily subsidised.
uberman 4y ago
People lease cars all the time. Is that not essentially the same thing?