The craze for the electric scooter is officially one year: what is the next step?

The frenzy of the electric scooter turns to one. The two companies that launched the new trend of transit when they started dropping motorized scooters into the streets of the city without permission a year ago – Bird and Lime – are celebrating their first 12 months (or in the Lime case, 14 months) number of passengers and promises renewed to work in collaboration with cities. Companies are also thinking about the following for this new, high-profile, highly polarized mode of transportation.

But while scooter start-ups are busy fighting for a year of solid growth, they also keep an eye on Uber and Lyft's moves, who are looking to take large amounts of market share. Earlier this month, Lyft launched its first scooter sharing service in Denver. Next was Santa Monica, where Uber should also drop his first scooters. Other startups are developing aggressively, suggesting that early pioneers can not afford to miss if they hope to maintain their pole position.

Bird launched its scooter sharing service in Santa Monica for the first time in September 2017. Since then, it has reached more than 100 cities, facilitated more than 10 million trips and raised funds at an unprecedented rate. It has recently become the fastest start to reach a valuation of $ 2 billion.

Photo by Andy Hawkins / The Verge

If Uber and Lyft were the first phase of the carpool, then electric scooters represent the "sharing of the road 2.0", said Travis VanderZanden, CEO of Bird, in an interview with The edge. As Bird enters its second year, VanderZanden says the company has "doubled" its recent "GovTech" collaboration with cities, with the goal of making scooters shared "the most community-driven, the most mobility-and-mobility solution." safe.

VanderZaden said he had no idea of ​​the popularity of scooters when he launched Bird a year ago. "I certainly did not expect it to be so polarizing," he said. "And I did not think we would be able to make 10 million trips." Lyft has only made 1 million trips in its first 15 months, VanderZaden notes in comparison.

"That does not mean we do not have a lot of work to do to work with cities to see how we make it less polarized," he added. One of the challenges is finding parking reserved for scooters that block the sidewalks or in front of businesses that do not want them. To this end, Bird recently unveiled a miniature "park" in Santa Monica that could serve as a model for the future.

Building a stronger and more robust scooter is another goal. VanderZanden said Bird is currently working on his future vehicle, which includes a 55% more powerful battery, a more durable shaft, fewer exposed cables and solid-core tires. The current model is not really designed for intensive use of the fleet, and supply chain issues could slow Bird's growth, according to L & # 39; information.

Bird's main competitor, Lime, celebrates his own stage. After 14 months of activity, the San Francisco-based company said it had reached 11.5 million trips on its scooters and shared bikes. It took Lime one year to reach 6 million trips and two months later to double that number.

Like Bird, Lime operates in 100 cities around the world and plans to expand into 50 new markets by the end of the year. Lime is particularly focused on launching on world markets: it recently landed in Paris, and it is also considering other international cities.

It all sounds familiar to anyone who has been in the roll-in business for half a decade. At first, Uber's mantra was "growth first and foremost". Go to a city without warning, win customers despite protests from regulators and established players, then ask for forgiveness. The scooter companies followed this game book in the first few months.

Uber was particularly able to congratulate himself every time he took a new step: 1 billion trips, 2 billion, 5 billion, and so on. Earlier this month, Lyft made its billionth trip. These are rounded numbers that are well worth celebrating, but they are largely meaningless compared to more tangible indicators such as gross bookings, revenues and profits.

These are also not the most relevant figures for cities. How these companies deal with local governments will remain a stumbling block for the scooter industry. The first markets, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, have introduced new regulatory systems to better manage the distribution and deployment of no-dock scooters on their streets. Other cities are following suit by ordering scooter companies to pack their fleets until regulators can finalize the new rules of authorization.

"What was most surprising from the public's point of view is the pace at which electronic scooters are made official in cities," said Juan Matute, deputy director of the Institute of Transportation Studies of the United States. UCLA, in an email. "They offer a direct and tangible mobility advantage. One year after their launch, Santa Monica, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities have formalized their existence. The public sector does not always move as fast, but I think it's felt that the viability of scooters is a low-emission, low-emission, low-carbon mode for places that want to go beyond the dominance of the automobile.

Photo by Andrew Liptak / The Verge

As scooter injuries increase and personal injury lawyers come together, cities are demanding more detailed security plans from start-ups. the Washington Post have recently reported that emergency doctors in seven cities reported seeing peaks in severe accidents after scooters were launched on their streets. VanderZanden said all Bird scooters were capped at 15 mph, whether cities require it or not. And the company has also introduced the "speed limit" feature, so scooters automatically slow down to 8 mph when, for example, they enter the Santa Monica bike path.

Cities also want to have access to anonymized data, such as digital scooters circulating on their streets and types of journeys made (places of departure and arrival), when they think about how these new devices integrate into their transport systems. Bird and Lime both want to share this data. But they continue to accept new restrictions imposed by cities.

"This is a new, strange category of small transportation that is also very fun and helps fill the gaps in existing transportation networks," said Mike Ramsey, Mobility Analyst at Gartner. "That said, Uber and Lyft have learned some clear lessons. And cities take that back. Laws are being created. Scooters will have fun to some extent.