For years, shared scooters have helped people get around within cities. But what if they could connect them to places outside city boundaries as well?
Bird’s newest launches in Europe are aiming to do just that.
This week, we launched a multimodal fleet of Bird scooters and shared e-assist Bird Bikes in the municipality of Sesto Fiorentino, Italy. This modestly populated city of around 50,000 inhabitants sits just north of Florence, the country’s renowned capital of the Tuscan region.
Thanks to coordination with our local logistics partners, Bird riders can now travel between Florence and Sesto Fiorentino, enabling inter-city trips for the first time since our scooters launched here in December, 2020. It’s the latest in a series of initiatives designed to improve mobility access in and around Florence, including Bird’s integration with local Italian e-moped operator Zig Zag in 2021.
“Allowing riders to travel not just within cities but between them is a critical part of making micromobility a viable everyday transportation alternative to gas-powered cars,” said Renaud Fages, Chief Mobility Officer at Bird. “At Bird, we’ve always been focused on bringing eco-friendly transportation to everyone. This is the next natural extension of that mission.”
And Sesto Fiorentino isn’t alone. Earlier this month, Bird scooters rolled out in the municipality of Alcobendas, Spain, directly north of Madrid. Similarly, in Israel, Bird’s recent launch in Petah Tikva has helped to connect the city to neighboring Tel Aviv.
While current urban infrastructure may not always be optimized for micromobility travel between city centers and suburbs, the reality that these trips are now technically possible can help spur the development of such infrastructure.
Sesto Fiorentino, Alcobendas and Petah Tikva are just three in a growing list of municipalities where inter-city micro-EV travel is emerging as a real possibility. As we continue to grow our global network of 350+ partner cities into 2022, we’re laser focused on enabling seamless transportation that maximises efficiency and reduces dependence on gas-powered vehicles.
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