5 important facts about e-scooter startup Bird which plans to expand across the Netherlands in 2018

After bikes and scooters, looks like it’s the turn of e-scooters now. Electric scooters are the new rage in the Silicon Valley and now it’s catching up the trend in Europe as well. When its comes to Europe, how can the Netherlands sit behind! More and more e-scooter startups from the US are now entering the Dutch market.

The latest one to enter the market is Bird from California. Recently, Bird has opened an office in Amsterdam with Jonatan de Boer as the local managing director.

Bird: Its foundation

The e-scooter startup Bird, which is headquartered in Venice, California was founded last year by Travis VanderZanden, who was responsible for the global growth of Uber until late 2016. Reportedly, in a very short period of time, Bird has garnered €355.5 million funds from Accel, Greycroft and Sequoia. The electric scooter startup already operates in the US and now, the Netherlands will be the first foreign market where the company will operate.

Today, as Bird steps into Amsterdam, we at Silicon Canals have come up with 5 must knows about the sizzling startup.

Bird works with the companion app

If you want to rent a dockless electric scooter from Bird, then you should install the companion app on your phone. The app shows where the scooters are available in your locality. Once you locate a scooter, you can begin your ride by scanning the QR code showed in the Bird app. This will unlock the scooter and let you start the ride. The app shows the battery life that is left and the location of the bike using GPS.

Bird scooters aren’t too expensive

In the US, Bird charges $1 for a ride and 15 cents per minute it is used. It is believed that the cost in Europe would not be much different. At this pricing, this concept has been well received in the US. Notably, in Paris, Bird scooters cost €1 to start the ride followed by €0.15 per minute. Likewise, in Tel Aviv, Bird scooters will charge 5 shekels to start and then 50 agorot per minute.

It is expected to be successful in the Netherlands as well. People called chargers or Bird hunters can make from $5 to $20 per scooter based on where it has to picked up, to collect them, charge them and drop them off next morning.

Offers free helmets to riders

In an attempt to ensure safety of the users, Bird offers free helmets to the active riders. You can place the request for a helmet in the Safety section of the app. As the helmet will be free of cost, you will have to pay only the shipping cost.

Urges to save sidewalks

Though Bird is one of the multiple dockless electric scooter startups, the company aims to save the sidewalks. The revolution in transportation in the form of electric bikes and scooters has reduced traffic, congestion and the emission of greenhouse gases. But it has exploited the sidewalks due to improper parking and disposal of broken electric scooters. The startup aims to resolve this issue by operating a program to retrieve their vehicles from city streets every night. Necessary repair and maintenance will be carried out and parked where the vehicles will be needed next day.

Revenue sharing model

Bird offers a remittance of $1 per vehicle per day to the city government. This money is meant to be used to build more bike lanes, maintain the shared infrastructure and promote safe riding. Bird’s founder has sent an SOS Pledge to rival startups to bring a transformation on this front.

Bird electric scooters let riders travel at 15 MPH speed. Notably, its rivals such as Lime that also entered Europe with Paris and Tel Aviv offers electric scooter services at similar pricing. It is believed that Bird will give a tough competition to the similar services such as Lime, Spin and more.

Stay tuned to Silicon Canals for more updates in the tech startup world.