The electric scooter craze that has commuters zipping around U.S. cities has not yet landed in Toronto but Bird — one of the biggest e-scooter firms — is about to.
The Santa Monica-based company is deploying a local lobbyist to talk to multiple city councillors, city transportation staff and an official in Mayor John Tory’s office.
“Bird is seeking to partner with the City of Toronto to establish a harmonious and sustainable transportation network that involves last-mile electric scooter sharing,” the company says in a lobbyist registration.
But don’t expect to see the “micro-transit” vehicles — heavy-duty self-propelled versions of kids’ Razr scooters, unlocked with an app — on local sidewalks or bike lanes in the immediate future.
“We’re always looking for opportunities to work with cities and municipalities, to help make them healthier and safer, and we think providing other mobility options is one of the ways to do that,” Mackenzie Long, a spokesperson for Bird, said in an interview.
“But we have nothing to share right now in terms of expansion plans.”
Bird is following the lobbying footsteps of Lime, a San Francisco-based rival in the booming business of dropping e-scooters on city streets — sometimes with prior city permission, sometimes not — and charging commuters per minute on typically short trips between downtown points.
Citylab blog dubbed 2018 the “Year of the Scooter,” saying the devices “swiftly and silently inserted themselves into the American cityscape.” Questions remain, though, over safety and their long-term use filling gaps — from transit station to workplace, for example — in city transportation networks.
Lime lobbied Toronto officials last year but then pitched Waterloo city council on a pilot project that started last fall and, after a winter break, will resume from April to September.
Between Oct. 2 and Nov. 30, more than 6,000 people rolled more than 19,000 kilometres through the Laurel Trail between Waterloo Park Promenade and the David Johnston Research and Technology Park. If riders on any of the 100 scooters wander outside the test area, “geofencing” technology is supposed to slow top speed from 23 km/h to a walking pace.
“Bird is seeking to partner with the City of Toronto to establish a harmonious and sustainable transportation network that involves last-mile electric scooter sharing,” the company says in a lobbyist registration.
But don’t expect to see the “micro-transit” vehicles — heavy-duty self-propelled versions of kids’ Razr scooters, unlocked with an app — on local sidewalks or bike lanes in the immediate future.
“We’re always looking for opportunities to work with cities and municipalities, to help make them healthier and safer, and we think providing other mobility options is one of the ways to do that,” Mackenzie Long, a spokesperson for Bird, said in an interview.
“But we have nothing to share right now in terms of expansion plans.”
Bird is following the lobbying footsteps of Lime, a San Francisco-based rival in the booming business of dropping e-scooters on city streets — sometimes with prior city permission, sometimes not — and charging commuters per minute on typically short trips between downtown points.
Citylab blog dubbed 2018 the “Year of the Scooter,” saying the devices “swiftly and silently inserted themselves into the American cityscape.” Questions remain, though, over safety and their long-term use filling gaps — from transit station to workplace, for example — in city transportation networks.
Lime lobbied Toronto officials last year but then pitched Waterloo city council on a pilot project that started last fall and, after a winter break, will resume from April to September.
Between Oct. 2 and Nov. 30, more than 6,000 people rolled more than 19,000 kilometres through the Laurel Trail between Waterloo Park Promenade and the David Johnston Research and Technology Park. If riders on any of the 100 scooters wander outside the test area, “geofencing” technology is supposed to slow top speed from 23 km/h to a walking pace.
