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Richard Corbett, head of Bird UK.Bird.
Bird became the first electric scooter service to be launched in the UK today, having found a legal loophole in a law of 1835 that has hitherto blocked the popular scooters on the streets of the Great -Britain.
The launch is part of a pilot project at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park that will begin by limiting scooters to a one-kilometer private commuter trail to Stratford's Here East Technology Center.
"Technology always comes before legislation," said Richard Corbett, director of Bird UK Forbes.
"What we can do is we can ride on private land. In practice, this means that we can go to places like airports, universities, business campuses and parks with the permission of the owner. "
The route in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on which bird scooters will operate.Bird.
The launch will see 50 scooters available for rent for £ 1 ($ 1.30) plus 20 p / min ($ 0.20), Corbett says. Bird has obtained permission from the Olympic Park to extend the test to 100 scooters as demand grows.
"This is the first step in a long road to changing regulations," he said. "The more trials we can do, the more we can demonstrate the viability of the service, the better and the faster we can change the regulations."
Forbes understands that Loughborough University, which has a postgraduate campus at Here East, has expressed interest in deploying Bird scooters on its main campus, based on the success of the Olympic Park pilot project.
For the moment, however, these electric scooters are limited by this loathsome loophole in British law that Bird has discovered, and not that society would describe it in this way.
For example, these electric scooters can be used on private trails, but only when these trails do not interact with roads accessible to public vehicles.
Bird.
This means for Stratford a rather complicated compromise. First, bird enthusiasts will be required to disembark in order to cross the two or three roads that cross the sidewalk (although many may be unaware of this rule).
Secondly, it means that the GPS geodetic barrier controlling where scooters can be used (by turning off the electric motor and possibly blocking the wheels) is ruthless – take a wrong turn or derive the "approved course" and leave a helpless electric scooter in a few minutes.
Bird says it will also limit the hours of operation of its scooters between 7am and 9pm, with additional restrictions and removal of scooters when West Ham plays football at the nearby London stadium.
All this to say that the launch of Bird today is a compromise.
Throughout Europe, Bird is rapidly expanding to Paris, the first European city launched yesterday: Brussels, Vienna, Antwerp, Zurich and Madrid.
In these cities, tens of thousands of people are quickly adopting electric scooters to help them solve the "last mile" of their daily commutes.
Bird is already valued at $ 2 billion and has 2.1 million registered passengers worldwide who have made more than 10 million trips.
However, due to the archaic transportation rules of the UK, as well as Brexit's political priorities, Bird and rival Lime scooter service are facing a long and difficult task in getting the regulatory changes they need.
Partial launches and pilot projects on private land are only going so far, and the deployment of Bird's Olympic Park with its current restrictions is likely to frustrate as many people as it benefits.
But for a company like Bird that is pushing for substantial legislative change, frustrated customers may well be right.
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Richard Corbett, head of Bird UK.Bird.
Bird became the first electric scooter service to be launched in the UK today, having found a legal loophole in a law of 1835 that has hitherto blocked the popular scooters on the streets of the Great -Britain.
The launch is part of a pilot project at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park that will begin by limiting scooters to a one-kilometer private commuter trail to Stratford's Here East Technology Center.
"Technology always comes before legislation," said Richard Corbett, director of Bird UK Forbes.
"What we can do is we can ride on private land. In practice, this means that we can go to places like airports, universities, business campuses and parks with the permission of the owner. "
The route in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on which bird scooters will operate.Bird.
The launch will see 50 scooters available for rent for £ 1 ($ 1.30) plus 20 p / min ($ 0.20), Corbett says. Bird has obtained permission from the Olympic Park to extend the test to 100 scooters as demand grows.
"This is the first step in a long road to changing regulations," he said. "The more trials we can do, the more we can demonstrate the viability of the service, the better and the faster we can change the regulations."
Forbes understands that Loughborough University, which has a postgraduate campus at Here East, has expressed interest in deploying Bird scooters on its main campus, based on the success of the Olympic Park pilot project.
For the moment, however, these electric scooters are limited by this loathsome loophole in British law that Bird has discovered, and not that society would describe it in this way.
For example, these electric scooters can be used on private trails, but only when these trails do not interact with roads accessible to public vehicles.
Bird.
This means for Stratford a rather complicated compromise. First, bird enthusiasts will be required to disembark in order to cross the two or three roads that cross the sidewalk (although many may be unaware of this rule).
Secondly, it means that the GPS geodetic barrier controlling where scooters can be used (by turning off the electric motor and possibly blocking the wheels) is ruthless – take a wrong turn or derive the "approved course" and leave a helpless electric scooter in a few minutes.
Bird says it will also limit the hours of operation of its scooters between 7am and 9pm, with additional restrictions and removal of scooters when West Ham plays football at the nearby London stadium.
All this to say that the launch of Bird today is a compromise.
Throughout Europe, Bird is rapidly expanding to Paris, the first European city launched yesterday: Brussels, Vienna, Antwerp, Zurich and Madrid.
In these cities, tens of thousands of people are quickly adopting electric scooters to help them solve the "last mile" of their daily commutes.
Bird is already valued at $ 2 billion and has 2.1 million registered passengers worldwide who have made more than 10 million trips.
However, due to the archaic transportation rules of the UK, as well as Brexit's political priorities, Bird and rival Lime scooter service are facing a long and difficult task in getting the regulatory changes they need.
Partial launches and pilot projects on private land are only going so far, and the deployment of Bird's Olympic Park with its current restrictions is likely to frustrate as many people as it benefits.
But for a company like Bird that is pushing for substantial legislative change, frustrated customers may well be right.
