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Electric scooter company Bird files for bankruptcy
- FpUser 3y agoI personally see no point in renting e-scooters, e-bikes etc. Too expensive. Way simpler just to buy those. Myabe that's the reason. I personally own e-bike, and EUC. Totally happy with both.
- Pxtl 3y agoYou can't take an e-bike on many transit systems. You can't go meet somebody and go walk with them to another location. Rental micromobility is very convenient for those kinds of things. They don't replace a car or a bike, what they replace is the walk from the train station.
- iAMkenough 3y agoI'm curious about this. My transit system doesn't differentiate e-bikes and regular bikes. I'm not sure why they would.
- FpUser 3y agoSame here. However many e-bikes are very heavy and not everyone can lift those to place on bike rack of a bus for example.
- FpUser 3y ago>"You can't take an e-bike on many transit systems. You can't go meet somebody and go walk with them to another location." e-bike is somewhat limited in this particular usage. I mostly ride EUC though and that thing can go as fast as a car in the city and since it is so compact I have no problem taking it into any place - store, client's office, coffee shop etc. etc. So unless there is adverse weather, need to bring loads of stuff from A to B EUC replaces everything for me.
- Malcolmlisk 3y agoDoes this means if I bring 1 or 2 scooters to my house, Ill be able to use them for my own usage?
- prepend 3y agoI’ve wondered how they deal with theft. But if you take a scooter and put it in a faraday cage now, in a year or two, will they will track them when you take it out?
- netsharc 3y agoI'd assume their connectivity provider would've terminated their contract. Although bankruptcy can also mean restructuring...
- LeafItAlone 3y ago> In a press release today, Bird confirmed that it had entered into a “financial restructuring process aimed at strengthening its balance sheet,” with the company continuing to operate as normal in pursuit of “long-term, sustainable growth.”
- LeafItAlone 3y ago> The ultimate goal is to sell Bird’s assets, with a so-called “stalking horse” agreement kicking off a bidding process designed to get as much value out of Bird as possible, with its lenders setting a baseline bid before opening things up to external suitors over the next four months. They might end up in the hands of someone that wants them. There are many different scooter companies, so it’s likely someone will pick ups the assets.
- evandijk70 3y agoNo. In the event of a bankruptcy, the inventory should be sold to the highest bidder and used to reimburse the creditors of the company (probably the IRS/investors/suppliers). Bringing scooters to your house would still be theft.
- lubosm 3y agoMisread it for "Electric scooter company Bird Flies for bankrupcy".
- doublerabbit 3y agoACME Nest Co recently closed their twig division in a restructuring feather program.
- selimthegrim 3y agoLooks like Blammo has a clear path to the top
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- richbell 3y agoChapter 11 bankruptcy in an attempt to restructure the company, not shutting down because they are insolvent (yet).
- nostrademons 3y agoChapter 11 is still because of insolvency (debts > assets), it just results in the company continuing to operate with the creditors becoming the new owners, not being forced to cease operations, liquidate, and return cash to creditors.
- stevage 3y ago>In a press release today, Bird confirmed that it had entered into a “financial restructuring process aimed at strengthening its balance sheet,” with the company continuing to operate as normal in pursuit of “long-term, sustainable growth.” If it wasn't for the paragraph before, you'd think things were going just peachy.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- marssaxman 3y agoI am a frequent user of other rental scooter services, but I could never get the Bird app to work. I wonder how large a role low-quality software development may have played in their inability to make a profit.
- cbhl 3y agoThis makes me sad -- I liked the Bird scooters much more than the Lime or Spin ones, and parking a bunch of scooters in a parking spot takes up much less space than Citi bike docking stations or Google bikes or cars. But instead running a scooter rental company became "who is best at navigating municipal RFPs" and the lack of availability brought people back to riding in -- and leasing/buying -- cars.
- iAMkenough 3y agoI don't blame the municipalities for holding private companies accountable when scooters inevitably end up blocking ADA accessible routes or end up thrown in the river. It's expensive to deal with these issues, and since American consumers won't take personal responsibility, it should rightfully be at the private company's expense. Rentable scooters require 24/7 staff with collection vehicles in nearly every municipality they exist, and municipalities have a right to demand a standard of service in addressing issues caused by the private scooter rental customers.
- cplusplusfellow 3y agoIt’s not nearly as expensive as subsidizing bus routes to the tune of $19 for every $1 of bus fare collected, like in my home town. But it solves about 80% of trips that would require 3x more bus dollars to be invested than are already being squandered. This solved the last mile problem in a fashion no one else has to date. Every thing else in comparison on both convenience and cost is a joke. Moving some scooters off of an ADA ramp is the least of our worries. And I’m guessing less than 1% of these wound up in a river, not that any city would care if they didn’t feel threatened in their monopoly on solving traffic problems.
- iAMkenough 3y agoInefficiently run bus systems are a whole other issue. We need to move away from running largely empty gigantic vehicles over roads when the demand isn't there, and transition to public transit that aggressively scales based on data-driven demand measurements. I don't know why on-demand public transit systems aren't more popular. Edit: > Moving some scooters off of an ADA ramp is the least of our worries. Probably because you're not the person who is called when someone with mobility issues can't get to a bus stop.
- LanzVonL 3y agoEverybody hates these rental scooters, I've yet to find somebody IRL or even who can pass a Turing test online who enjoys them or thinks they're a good idea.
- satvikpendem 3y agoI like(d) them, they were great last mile vehicles, smaller than bicycles and all electric so I didn't have to pedal. Now they did have their problems such as cluttering up cities but they were fun.
- holler 3y agoI think they're one of the most enjoyable personal mobility inventions in modern times.
- presidentender 3y agoI really like 'em when I'm in a city for a work trip. I have a truck at home. I don't have a car at an offsite. Being able to get around is nice. SF's muni buses are crowded and slow and the frequent stops are nauseating. Denver might have public transit, but a Lime bike or scooter is more convenient.
- blindriver 3y agoMy friend and I had an amazing time scootering around SF a few years ago. Dangerous as hell but fun as hell too. I think it cost $20/scooter for several hours, completely worth it. That said, I do think that just leaving the scooters around is exploiting loopholes and is a nuisance.
- coryrc 3y agoYou would never say that about the cars everywhere taking up hundreds of times the space per vehicle.
- ahahahahah 3y agoNo shit, because those cars are in spaces designed for them not strewn all over the place.
- regularjack 3y agoI hope they all go bankrupt, so there's no longer foreign corporations dumping their trash on my streets.
- wilted-iris 3y agoWould you include foreign cars in that statement? They take up more space and disincentivize traditional mobility.
- Spivak 3y agoWhat makes a weed isn't the plant but the location. Bike rentals while being essentially the same business don't have the same eyesore problem because the companies that deployed them built bike racks.
- __lbracket__ 3y agoGood riddance. Those ugly scooters were an eyesore in most neighborhoods.
- mc32 3y agoThey're not liquidating, just restructuring, so they're not disappearing. But I agree, given they end up in ditches pretty often --which is weird, the market is for environmentally conscious customers but when they get drunk they also toss them into rivers... sometimes.
- geophph 3y agoIdk cars are a pretty big eyesore too they’ve just been normalized.
- Ekaros 3y agoAnd what is truly horrible eyesore are humans in general... I think we should work towards getting rid of those, they are root of all problems... Not that other animals are problem free either...
- apstats 3y agoI only used Bird once and have always thought they were not a great way of getting around. That said this is a real bummer to me. If commuting and mobility were much much easier the world would look a lot different for the better (in my opinion). I hope there are more attempts to make getting around and getting to places you need and want to go easier.
- Tarrosion 3y agoBird the company has/had lots of problems, but I'm sad to see them hit bankruptcy for what it signals about micromobility as a whole. I've long been frustrated that micromobility is held to a standard no other transportation mode is expected to meet, at least in the US. E.g. - "Micromobility doesn't make any sense, you can tell because all the companies lose money." But every other form of transportation is deeply subsidized! In the US we spend hundreds of billions of dollars per year on roads, trains get federal infrastructure money, public transit [where it exists] isn't close to fully paid for by fare revenue, airlines get bailed out in recessions, all carbon-burning transport has an unpriced carbon externality, etc. - "I hate the scooters, they clutter sidewalks." Often the clutter is real and a problem and I wish people behaved better. Among the people who I wish behaved better, I'd include car drivers who park in bike lanes or on sidewalks, yet the prevalence of such behavior doesn't create widespread calls to ban all cars. (Well, in some corners of the internet...) More generally, it's weird that scooter companies are liable - legally or de facto - for such behavior at all. If I get a rental car from Hertz or similar and then park illegally, nobody claims this means Hertz should get a ticket or be shut down. Why are scooters different? At the end of the day, in the US we've built our legal regime and land use patterns around the assumption that most travel should be by car and this travel should be subsidized. The fact that scooters create some frictions by taking up some of the space left over by cars is more an indictment of the system than of scooters.
- seniorsassycat 3y agoMy ebike is governored to 28mph, some scooter's have geofenced top speeds. Yet a full car can drive thru a parking lot or residential street with highway speed potential.
- mgaunard 3y agoebikes are limited to 15mph in Europe, which is still faster than most bikes on the road. 28mph is pretty much a motorbike.
- 74037439 3y agoAt least in California my experience has been that Bird was doomed after the handicapables decided it was an issue. Great service, very convenient, good density, etc. Then a bunch of regulations passed limiting them to certain parking zones to solve some issue for the handicapped community and now they're basically worthless in terms of convenience. I mean the streets are littered with needles, tents and homeless but god forbid we leave something useful on them.
- bentt 3y agoWe had Bird electric bikes in our town. They were too expensive to use, though some people did. Mostly college kids from what I could tell. Still, I used one once and it cost me $10 to get just a couple miles. Not worth it.
- qingcharles 3y agoThe Lyft app seems to show me prices for a car service that are way lower than taking an ebike. I only use it because it is close to free if you are under the poverty line.
- Rebelgecko 3y agoBird was often more expensive than Uber/Lyft in my area. I always thought that was weird. Not sure if that was something wonky on Bird's end or they just weren't taking as much of a loss as the rideshare companies.
- intellix 3y agoit makes sense in at least europe where I feel like I see 1 bird scooter for every 100 bolt scooters
- CrisMystik 3y agoI use Bird in Rome and it's the operator whose scooters I see the most around. However, it could also be due to the fact that the municipality has enacted strict rules allowing only 3 companies to operate and forcing a certain number of scooters to be placed in peripheral areas.
- artdigital 3y agoHad good memories with Bird in Europe and am sad to see them go :(
- ahaferburg 3y ago> It’s also worth noting that Bird’s Canadian and European operations are not part of this bankruptcy filing, and will “continue to operate as normal,” the company said.
- bananapub 3y agoreally is quite a shame that they destroyed or prevented actually sustainable well-run companies from succeeding. the culture of US-aggressive VC-backed conquer-the-world-or-die-trying businesses really does need to be reigned in.
- Pxtl 3y agoBummer. I used the Bird scooters a few times in my city - I found them overpriced and anemically powered, but still useful.
- Pxtl 3y agoSo much crab-bucket thinking. 90% of the right of way is dedicated to automobile traffic but because rental scooters occasionally get left on the remaining 10%, the problem is clearly the scooters and not the cars.
- felurx 3y agoI think that neither cars nor rental scooters (with how they are used and operated) belong in cities. Obviously, there are always exceptions (delivery/transport, emergency vehicles, ...), but for personal transport in cities, the negatives of cars far outweigh the positives.
- benaubin 3y agoAbout 3 years ago, Bird used to be the only scooter useable on my college campus. And they were pretty commonly used. Then, 2 years ago, the bird app completely stopped working on my phone. Every time I tried to unlock one, the app would just show an endless loading animation. I tried reinstalling. I tried using different payment methods. I couldn't find any way to get a scooter to unlock, and the moment I needed one, I was always in a hurry. By then, Lime began to comply with my university's rules and their scooters were allowed to park on campus. I tried the app many more times, even a few weeks ago, and just... never worked. I don't think it was just me - I stopped seeing Bird scooters get used by others. I still saw the occasional Lime. It's entirely possible I'm extrapolating too much from my experience and a rough observation. But still, I'm kind of surprised it took them so long to fail.
- someonehere 3y agoGood. I was nearly hit numerous times by riders on the sidewalks here in SF. They provided something easy for people to get around, but in the end people were reckless with them. I myself had several close calls riding on the janky streets of SF.
- vkou 3y agoI wish car companies would go bankrupt, too many people drive cars recklessly. (Why are we holding scooters to a higher standard than the utter madhouse that I see on the roads on a daily basis?)
- phero_cnstrcts 3y agoCars normally don’t drive on the sidewalk.
- vkou 3y agoSo what? When I am on the road, so are all the reckless drivers. When will car manufacturers start taking responsibility for the behaviour of their customers? Why do you only hold the vendor responsible for what happens on the sidewalk? Is it some kind of sacred space? Why do we just accept that people will behave like savages on the road running parallel to it?
- scotty79 3y ago> When will car manufacturers start taking responsibility for the behaviour of their customers? I'd say never. Because they successfully lobbied against it and shaped public perception way back. They used to be blamed for it. They just acquired and spent enough money to make it disappear permanently.
- 946789987649 3y agoNo, but you still need to cross the roads.
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- ewweezdsd 3y agoI hope more companies will follow. I hate rentable electric scooters with passion - they cause so many accidents, block the walkways and pollute the landscape. They aren't even particularly ecological, considering how they mainly replace walking, and have short lifespan. Of course it's more of an user problem rather than tech problem. They could work well in a society where bad behavior is not tolerated, and eScooter use is regulated properly. Unfortunately I don't live in one, and thus eScooters really seem to attract lazy and irresponsible types.
- pinkgolem 3y agoI mean I am not a big fan, but can we stop spewing falsehoods? >have short lifespan. Those things are build like tanks by now, every big player has its own repair shops and they are repaired over and over, and nearly none of the damage is from normal use
- margalabargala 3y ago> considering how they mainly replace walking I can't speak for wider stats, but anecdotally I used them instead of things like taking the bus, or getting a lyft. If is close enough to walk I generally wouldn't want to spend the money.
- BOOTRACER 3y agoI rented a Lime scooter once. Slow but fun. I decided to never rent again, Bought a performance scooter that goes over 100KPH. Total thrill ride.
- avree 3y agoI feel like this is really what killed the scooter companies. Either you have enough need to use one for commuting/etc. that you just buy your own, in which case you always know where it is, know it's in good condition, charged, etc. or you have infrequent need for one, in which case you're looking at spending maybe $20/year on scooters.
- lores 3y ago100kph on a SCOOTER? That sounds absolutely insane. Is it as absolutely insane as it sounds?