Bird sold me on scooters as a useful way to make short city trips. Then I kept seeing broken or vandalized vehicles around Oakland and San Francisco. That’s firsthand experience with availability, not proof of Bird’s company-wide unit economics.
The operating problem was visible even without a precise dollar estimate. A scooter has to be charged, moved, repaired, and parked without becoming a nuisance. Each broken vehicle earns nothing while still taking staff time and street space. I previously gave exact scooter costs, lifespans, and daily revenue without a source; I can’t defend those figures, so I’ve removed them.
Bird filed for Chapter 11 in 2023. That later failure doesn’t mean shared scooters cannot work. It means a fleet operator has to prove vehicle uptime and repair economics city by city. I would ask for those numbers before celebrating another ride milestone.