Berlin, 26th of August 2019 – Today, Bird is launching its e-scooter sharing service in the cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt, and Munich – more cities will follow in the future.
With carbon emissions and congestion plaguing many cities throughout Germany, Bird will provide residents and visitors an environmentally friendly, fun, and reliable alternative to car trips. By reducing car trips with rides on Bird One, the industry’s most durable and sustainable e-scooter specifically designed and engineered for the sharing environment, we will help make cities in Germany more livable. Bird will have a positive impact and contribute to the “Immediate Program Clean Air 2017 to 2020” in achieving Germany’s goal of having one million electric vehicles in the country by 2020.
“With every second person living in a city today, the importance of sustainable urban mobility alternatives has never been greater,” said Travis VanderZanden, founder and CEO of Bird. “We are thrilled to offer Germans reliable access to our brand-new Bird One Germany model as they shift their reliance on automobiles and seek to make a positive impact on their communities by decreasing society’s collective reliance on cars.”
Setting the Bar for Micro-mobility Safety, Sustainability, and Reliability
With today’s announcement, Bird is unveiling its newest, safest and most durable e-scooter model which was specifically designed and manufactured to meet the demands and requirements of the German market. The two hand brake e-scooter features a service life of at least 18 months in the sharing environment and a range of about 50 kilometers on a single charge. Riders will have a choice between two different payment methods: credit card and PayPal. Bird also sets the standard for safety, sustainability, and operational excellence via:
Safety
- Education & Global Events: from in-app tutorials to a global safe streets event s.h.a.r.e. where riders receive helmets, participate in safe-riding trainings to conducting safety quizzes and sharing responsible riding tips, Bird prioritizes the continuing education of our rider community
- Policies: committed to safety above everything, Bird riders must be 18 years or older, can only ride one person per vehicle and are not permitted to ride under the influence of abusive substances
- Bird Global Safety Advisory Board: brings together industry experts and thought leaders to create, advise, and implement global programs, campaigns, and products to improve the safety of those riding e-scooters as well as non-riders in communities where they operate
- Technological Innovation: the industry’s first in-app Community Mode feature empowers individuals, riders and non-riders, to provide feedback on parking and damaged vehicles
Sustainability
- Vehicle Design: as the first micro-mobility company to design and engineer an e-scooter specifically for the sharing environment, Bird has produced two generations of products that comprise fewer parts, which then require fewer repairs and increase longevity
- Durability: Bird One Germany was designed and manufactured to last well over 18 months as a shared vehicle
- Reuse: while requiring fewer parts and minimal repairs, all parts of Bird vehicles are reused to the extent possible and then recycled responsibly
Proven Operational Excellence
- Fleet Management: full-time staff in each German market to help ensure first-class service, vehicle safety, and orderliness
- Bird Watchers & Mechanics: individuals who ensure a structured placement of the vehicles during the day, and Field Mechanics who perform daily repair and general maintenance
- Parking Solutions: Bird has a number of initiatives that ensure correct parking, from in-App tutorials, a Bird Watcher program, Preferred Parking that drives riders to park in predetermined areas, and Incentivized Parking to encourage riders, to No-Park Zones, End-of-Ride Photo, and our in-app Community Mode feature
- Global footprint: available in more than 100 cities across the world and possessing two years of industry experience, Bird’s operations team has seen, developed, and deployed industry-leading operational practices that prioritize the needs of cities and riders
“E-scooters are not a short-lived trend. Rather, we see it as a new way of thinking and living,” says Christian Gessner, Germany General Manager at Bird. “Based on our strong learnings over the past two years with a presence in more than 140 locations globally, we know that we can only succeed by closely working with cities and communities to reduce car use and carbon emissions. As our goal is to grow sustainably, our fleet is initially limited to a selection of five major German cities with 100 Bird e-scooters in each of those.”