[josefresco]

> The global shutdown of major cities in the Covid pandemic hit the scooter startup hard, forcing it to pull all of its scooters from US and European markets

Why did something like COVID effect the use and "contactless" rental of scooters? Was this just collateral damage or did specific changes on laws/regulations cause the pull out?

[vladvasiliu]

I don't know about other locales, but here, in France, people weren't supposed to wander too far away from their homes. Basically, you were only allowed to go to work if you absolutely couldn't work from home – and many people were staying home because their businesses were shut down.

You were not supposed to go visit a friend on the other side of town. "Non-essential" stores were closed, so no reason to go too far away (and if your closest grocery store is far enough to take a scooter, you're probably not living somewhere where they are present).

[libraryatnight]

It would be so rad if I could walk to the grocery - I'd get hit by a car for sure though :(

[soco]

But how long was that restriction in place?

[vladvasiliu]

IIRC there were three "lockdowns" over 1.5 years. The first was around 2 months, the second somewhat shorter (6 weeks IIRC) and the third around a month.

However, in between, business was not always fully back to normal. For example, many bars, restaurants and theaters were still closed or operating under restrictions, like only being able to receive public outside (which, of course, required an outside area) and with "social distancing" (which required a large outside area).

[asdajksah2123]

Citbike in NYC, a bike share program, saw record usage during and post COVID.

If COVID really hurt Bird, what it might be indicating is that Bird's primary user was tourists rather than locals using it as a mode of transportation.

[evo]

I suspect if you're wary about fomite spread of disease (later shown to be airborne for COVID but initially assumed), then it's easy to pick up a phobia of grappling the handlebars of a scooter that a stranger has recently used.

Additionally, at least anecdotally here, as the city centers hollowed out of normal business/leisure traffic, a lot of the rental vehicles were visibly breached and used by homeless folks, which often tarnished the literal appearance and reliability of the rental units in addition to damaging the brand.

[xeromal]

We weren't allowed to go the beach here in SoCal. If you can't go outside, why would you need a scooter

[b112]

Most places, outside of a few weeks here and there, were still a-ok with you going places. Just not all places.

But, another perspective.... do you want to take a bus, packed with people? Or even an uber, enclosed? Or, a scooter which you can wipe down the handlebars on?

I'd have thought scooters would have soared during the pandemic.

[ImPostingOnHN]

It is possible that potential customers just had fewer events and open places worth scooting to.

[brvsft]

I would also wager that potential repeat customers eventually just bought their own scooter. It's not like they're particularly expensive. If you really enjoyed using one of these, why rent? (I know there are reasons, e.g. I wouldn't want one of those batteries in my house at all. But my point is simply that they can be inexpensive, especially compared to the price of renting.)

[ImPostingOnHN]

For me, the biggest advantages are having one around whenever I need it, even if I didn't plan for it, and being able to leave one out of the way anywhere and not have to worry about using it to get home (might prefer a walk), or it getting stolen. It would absolutely be cheaper to buy one of my own, likely several times over by now. I'm mostly paying for the convenience.

[barryrandall]

The user base where I lived mostly consisted of tourists, commuters going from a parking garage to an office building, commuters going from apartments to office buildings, and unsupervised minors doing unsupervised minor things. All but the last group disappeared during the pandemic.

[recursivecaveat]

I would guess fewer urban commuters due to work-from-home plus retail slowdowns?

[turboponyy]

Less people outside -> less scoots

[bionsystem]

It has nothing to do with COVID. The stock was trading at $250 a share in october 2021, and started to drop afterwards, way after vaccines and restrictions in US/EU. It's just some lame excuse like inflation last year, rates now, and whatever is going to hit the news tomorrow.

[manmal]

Way less office workers and students went to work and school, and this made up a big part of their traffic.