August was a month for announcing major micromobility milestones, from 5.5 million Bird rides in Tel Aviv in just two years to nearly 40 million car trips replaced by scooters in the US.
Here’s a look at some of the most important stories you may have missed from the past month.
Bird Offers Free Rides for Teachers
The 2020-21 school year is off to an unconventional start to say the least. As millions of teachers and families begin to work through the academic challenges posed by COVID-19, the team at Bird has announced a new initiative to help.
The Free Rides for Teachers program offers teachers in participating cities across the US and Europe up to two free 30-minute rides per day and is valid through September 30, 2020. To sign up, simply email together@bird.co with your teacher ID or teaching credentials and we’ll get you enrolled asap.
Bird Two Launches in New York, Bordeaux
The past month saw several important micromobility launches around the world, starting with the kickoff of New York’s first shared e-scooter program. On August 10, Mayor Mike Spano and State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins unveiled Yonkers’ inaugural fleet of Bird Twos. Mayor Spano hailed the program as a way to offer more “smart, emission-free transportation solutions for our community.”
Across the Atlantic in Bordeaux, France, newly elected Mayor Pierre Hurmic has gotten to work on his ambitious plan to “create a new balance” between cars and much greener modes of transportation. To help, Bird launched a fleet of the micromobility industry’s most sustainable scooter, Bird Two, on August 12th.
“We share Mayor Hurmic’s strong concern for the environment, and we’re committed to helping the City of Bordeaux achieve its goal of creating a green and sustainable city for all residents to enjoy,” said Driss Ibenmansour, GM of Bird in France.
US Scooter Riders Took a Staggering 86 Million Trips in 2019
According to a report released by the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) in late August, e-scooter ridership in the US grew by more than 120% between 2018-2019. The 86 million scooter rides made last year account for almost ⅔ of all micromobility trips made in the country, which is particularly impressive when you consider that in 2017 they made up 0% (shared e-scooter platforms at scale had not been invented yet).
The NACTO report also noted that 45% of micromobility riders reported replacing a trip that otherwise would have been made by car, meaning that shared e-scooters offered by operators like Bird erased nearly 39 million car trips from American city streets last year.
Tel Aviv’s 5.5 Million Bird Rides are a Major Modeshift Milestone
Just two years after Bird launched the city’s first fleet of electric scooters, riders in Tel Aviv, Israel celebrated a milestone 5.5 million rides in mid-August. The overwhelming show of support for micromobility has encouraged the city, which ranked 5th worst in the world for traffic congestion in 2019, to grow its micromobility infrastructure by more than 50% over the next 5 years.
“Two years following the introduction of Bird to Tel Aviv, we remain humbled, grateful and inspired by how shared e-scooters have been embraced throughout the city,” said Travis VanderZanden, founder and CEO of Bird.
