Editor's Note: This article was originally run in the Cincinnati Business Courier July 26, 2018, and is republished here with permission.
A Los Angeles tech startup wants to become the Uber of scooters in Greater Cincinnati.
Bird Rides Inc., an electric scooter-sharing company that operates fleets of dock-free scooters in North American metros, is now piloting its program in select Cincinnati neighborhoods.
The $2 billion ride-sharing service began offering scooter rentals Thursday in parts of the Banks, Over-the-Rhine and downtown. Customers can use a GPS-based smartphone app to locate and pay for nearby scooters, which are collected nightly to be recharged and placed at designated areas by 7 a.m. the following day.
Travis VanderZanden, a former C-level executive at Lyft and departmental vice president at Uber, founded the company last year and launched in September 2017.
Rental fees are $1 per user plus 15 cents for every minute of use. That averages out to $10 for the first hour and $9 for every hour thereafter.
The scooters can reach speeds of up to 15 mph and are intended to cover short trips that are too distant to walk, but too close to drive. A full charge lasts approximately 15 miles. They are meant to be used in bike lanes rather than on sidewalks or public roadways.
Bird Rides Inc. has tried, with limited success, to introduce its scooters in other U.S. cities. The company has faced resistance in metros like San Francisco, Nashville, Denver, Miami and Louisville, where governments have suspended Birds from operating on city streets.
In recent months, cities like Indianapolis, Honolulu, Charlotte and Austin have suspended similar ride-sharing platforms like LimeBike, Spin, Ofo, Mobike and Jump.
The company's hurried launch set off reg flags for some city officials, Bridgett Weaver of sister publication Louisville Business First reported. Bird Rides Inc. failed to notify city governments about its rollout, prompting some metros to remove the scooters until proper regulations are put into place.
City officials did not know about Bird's expansion to Cincinnati until it launched this morning.
"The City of Cincinnati learned this morning that Bird – a dockless scooter-share company – has launched operations in Cincinnati," the city said in a statement. "Given that we just learned of the matter, we are still in the process of evaluating the possible impact on neighborhoods."
As part of its pilot, Bird Rides Inc. also implemented a program called One Bird that eliminates the $1 rental fee for anyone receiving state or federal assistance. The company's Red, White and Bird program extends the same fee reduction for service members and veterans. Riders must still pay a flat rate of 15 cents per minute.
The company did not disclose the total scooter inventory in Greater Cincinnati, saying only that more scooters would be added "once they are being used on average three times per day."
Bird Rides Inc. currently operates in 18 markets across 12 states, according to the company website.
