Bird, an electric scooter-sharing startup based in Santa Monica, California, will soon offer its Bird Platform program in New Zealand, Canada, and Latin America. The Bird Platform involves selling its e-scooters to local businesses at cost, providing them with advice and technical support, and then taking a small percentage (usually 20 percent) of each scooter trip. Along with having them incur all the costs associated with maintenance and operations, platform entrepreneurs will be responsible for working with cities to obtain permits and licensing. Entrepreneurs who participate in the program will be able to set their own pricing, operating hours, zoning, and add their own branding to the scooters.
The scooters will come preinstalled with all the firmware and GPS technology, called the “Bird Brain,” that allows them to be deployed as part of a shared fleet. In some areas, riders will be able to use the existing Bird app to access the scooters.
The Bird Platform will only be offered outside of the United States and Europe where Bird already operates its own share service. Bird typically charges $1 US to unlock a scooter and then 15 cents per minute of riding. The average trip generates around $3.75 in revenue for the company.
“Thousands of entrepreneurs and local business owners have expressed interest in partnering with Bird and joining the movement to reduce car usage,” said Travis VanderZanden, founder and CEO of Bird. “Through Bird Platform we help empower independent entrepreneurs to bring environmentally-friendly transportation options to their community while investing in a sustainable future for everyone.”