Bird Challenges Competitors to Sign S.O.S (Save Our Sidewalks) Pledge - Includes Dollar-A-Day Per Vehicle Payment to Cities

VENICE, Calif., March 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Travis VanderZanden, CEO and Founder of Bird, the leading last-mile electric vehicle sharing company, today invited CEOs of other scooter- and bike-sharing companies to sign the "Save Our Sidewalks" Pledge. Companies that take this pledge will commit to actions to prevent American cities from suffering the same fate of many Chinese cities where out-of-control vehicle deployment has led to piles of abandoned and broken bicycles over-running sidewalks and polluting public areas.

As VanderZanden wrote in a letter to the CEOs of LimeBike, Ofo, Mobike, and Jump: "Although we are competitors, we all share a passion for the transformation that we are all working to bring about. But as an industry of innovators, we need to lead not just on technology, but on social responsibility. We hope that all of you join us in this S.O.S. Pledge to help our cities thrive."

The three pillars of the SOS Pledge are:

1. Daily Pickup. We will operate a program designed to retrieve all of our vehicles every night. We will inspect every vehicle for necessary maintenance and repairs. Most importantly, the entire fleet will be repositioned to where the vehicles are wanted the next day, so they are not cluttering up our neighborhoods.
2. Responsible Growth. We will not increase our supply of vehicles in a city unless they are being used at least three times per vehicle per day (weather permitting). We will remove underutilized vehicles. We will share our utilization data with cities so they can verify this fact.
3. Revenue Sharing. We offer to remit $1 per vehicle per day to city governments so they can use this money to build more bike lanes, promote safe riding, and maintain our shared infrastructure.

In addition to challenging the industry to sign onto the SOS Pledge, Bird is entering three new markets this week: San Francisco, San Jose, and Washington, DC.

"Californians hate sitting in traffic and care passionately about the environment," said VanderZanden. "Operating these past months in Southern California, we have helped thousands of people avoid the traffic and carbon emissions that come from driving a car. We are thrilled to expand north and help the people of northern California take those last-mile trips without a car, and we are thrilled to take Birds to our nation's capital."

Bird introduced vehicles over the weekend in San Francisco and San Jose, and is officially launching its pilot there today. As ridership grows, Bird will adjust the number of Birds and areas they're available based on rider demand. The company will begin service in Washington, DC this week.

Bird has seen rapid ridership growth in each of the communities where it is available. Riders have embraced Bird as a convenient, safe, low-cost transportation option to replace short car trips. Since the company's founding last September, riders have taken Birds for more than half a million rides, with half of those coming in the last 30 days alone.

In addition to San Francisco and San Jose, Birds are currently available in Santa Monica, Venice, UCLA, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Riders interested in learning when it will be available in their market can download and sign up at www.birdapp.com; and cities interested in having Bird land in their community can email: [email protected].

ABOUT BIRD
Bird is a last-mile electric vehicle sharing company dedicated to bringing safe, low-cost, environmentally-friendly transportation solutions to communities across the world. It provides a fleet of shared electric scooters that can be accessed via smartphone. Birds give people looking to take a short journey across town or down that "last-mile" from the subway or bus to their destination a way to do so that does not pollute the air or add to traffic. Bird works closely with the cities in which it operates so that Bird is a safe, reliable, and affordable transportation option for people who live and work there. Founded in 2017 by transportation pioneer Travis VanderZanden, Bird is headquartered in Venice, Calif., and is rapidly expanding across the country. Follow Bird on Instagram (www.instagram.com/bird), on Twitter at @BirdRide, and find more information at www.bird.co.

SOURCE Bird

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