Transportation
What Happened When I Rented an E-Scooter for (Almost) a Month
Bird’s new monthly rental program could force users and cities to reconsider e-scooters as a real mode of transportation. But there are some drawbacks.
One afternoon in late May, a Bird scooter appeared in front of my house in San Francisco. This would be considered a normal sight in many American cities, where the shared electric vehicles have been available for by-the-minute rentals since 2018. But Bird isn’t part of San Francisco’s 12-month scooter pilot program—the company is only permitted to rent its fleet of black-and-white two-wheelers cross the bay in Oakland. In San Francisco, the small number of scooters that the program permits, from rivals Spin and Scoot, are not allowed in my neighborhood.
The scooter was unusual in a few other respects: It had a Bluetooth-enabled lock and a plug-in charger attached to it, in a Bird-branded baggy. And only my phone could unlock it.