A scooter business pushes for a change of law

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The California electric scooter company Bird is launching a pilot service on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.

It is illegal to drive electric scooters on public roads or sidewalks in the UK, but Bird hopes to change the law in the next 12 months.

The company, which operates in approximately 40 US cities, believes that its pilot project – on private property – will demonstrate the utility of this multi-stop mode of transportation and its benefits to the environment.

Scooters are unlocked with an app and will only be available between 7am and 9pm.

They will then be recovered and billed overnight. According to Bird, this will prevent theft, vandalism – and drunken late night – problems that have put some bicycle sharing projects at risk.

I tried it and after a hesitant start, the scooter was easier to drive than expected, although turning in the bends presented a challenge.

And even though I was pretty happy to walk a trail through the park, I'm not sure that I'll like to share one of London's busy highways with trucks, cars, and motorcycles. .

However, Richard Corbett, the managing director of Bird's for the UK and the Nordic countries, said that in Paris and Amsterdam, where he already operates, scooters have quickly found a place in the world. urban transport mix and showed that they could be safe.

By making a lot of noise about this small pilot project, the California company hopes to create a momentum for the change of the law in order to launch a commercial operation on the streets of London.

Mr. Corbett seems confident that regulators and lawmakers will act quickly: "It is a journey that we must begin and it is the first step today, but I am convinced that in the next 12 months we will have to change the regulations. "

This seems very optimistic. After mingling with Uber and his philosophy of "acting fast and breaking things," London regulators are likely to be cautious about the latest, eager American technology company.

Then there is the question of the business model.

Users will pay £ 1 ($ 1.30) to unlock a scooter, then 20 pence per minute. It will be relatively cheap for short distances in the Olympic Park, although more expensive than the free shuttle that drives people to Stratford Station.

If he's allowed to operate in London, users can stop paying £ 5 for a 20-minute commute.

Nevertheless, Bird can afford to lose money for a long time. This summer, he raised 300 million dollars (230 million pounds sterling) for a reported valuation of 2 billion dollars.

Perhaps that's the future of short-term transportation – or maybe Silicon Valley venture capitalists have lost touch with the reality of how mortals move from city to city. the other.