Florence, Italy—home to Michelangelo’s David, the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore and, interestingly, some of the country’s highest rates of micro-EV adoption.
Since launching our shared scooters in the Tuscan capital in December of 2020, tens of thousands of Bird riders have used Bird’s eco-friendly micromobility service to travel more than 250,000 kms throughout the city. In doing so, our estimates indicate they’ve prevented more than 20 metric tons of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere.
Perhaps more interesting, however, is the rate at which Florence residents are turning to micromobility as an integrated, regular part of their daily transportation routines. More than one in five Bird riders in Florence are highly consistent riders—those who ride Birds either daily or multiple times per week.
If trends continue on their current course, the number of riders using Bird ten or more times per month will stretch into the tens of thousands by the latter half of 2022.
To help ensure this takes place, and to emphasize the importance of safety as more riders in Florence adopt micromobility, Bird has launched some of our newest technology here in recent months. This includes highly advanced vehicles like our brand new Bird Three scooters as well as in-app features like Helmet Selfie that promote and reward safe riding practices.
Of course, micromobility comes in all shapes and sizes, and Bird is committed to ensuring that riders have access to the sustainable mobility vehicles of their choice. That’s why we’ve also teamed up with Zig Zag, an Italian e-moped provider, to offer riders in Florence a more robust micro-electric transportation service.
Available Zig Zag e-mopeds are clearly displayed alongside Bird scooters directly in our app, and riders can quickly access Zig Zag’s user interface to start a rental within seconds. This exclusive integration in Florence kicked off what has grown into Bird’s industry-first public bikeshare integration campaign, part of our Smart Bikeshare Program.
To learn more about Bird’s impact in Florence and over 300 other partner cities around the world, subscribe to the Bird Cities Blog.