Electric scooters are disappearing from more cities as the new coronavirus pandemic continues to continue shared mobility services around the world. Lime, the largest e-scooter sharing company in the world, said it would suspend service in nearly two dozen countries. Bird said it would shut down operations in six US cities and all of its European markets. And Ford-owned Spin has had to interrupt service in “very few” cities and universities.
The decisions to discontinue the service reflect the rapidly changing environment in the US and around the world in response to COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Three days ago, Lime was the only scooter company to discontinue operations in two US states and three European countries.
Now, with orders for shelter-in-place, social distance, and most people just staying at home, scooter companies are likely to see a sharp drop in demand. The timing of the pandemic also challenges the money-losing scooter market, which slows its business in winter and picks up again when the weather turns warm.
Kalk, with approximately 120,000 scooters in 30 countries, is making the most drastic cuts. The company said it is “phasing out or pausing” the service in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal , Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US.
The company’s scooters will continue to be available in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Brisbane, Australia; Busan, South Korea; Christchurch, New Zealand; Dunedin, New Zealand; Hamilton, New Zealand; Selwyn District, New Zealand; Seoul, South Korea; and Sydney, Australia.
Bird said it will pause service in San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Portland, Miami and Coral Gables. The company has also taken its scooters from all its European markets, including Annecy, Antwerp, Barcelona, Berlin, Bordeaux, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Krakow, Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Marseille, Munich, Paris, Rimini, Seville, Stockholm, Turin, Verona and Vienna.
“The COVID-19 pandemic undeniably affects countless lives on a global scale. Given our in-depth understanding and empathy for the cities, communities and people we serve, we temporarily pause our services in several cities, ”said a spokesperson. “This is very fluid as the response to COVID-19 evolves and is consistent with voluntary, as well as mandatory measures adopted by local governments for businesses.”
Spin, on the other hand, says it has been asked by some cities to “go a step further” to “fill in the transport gaps after the public bus system was turned off”. The Ford-owned company says it was identified as an “essential service” when the city was ordered locally “and was encouraged to continue operations as a healthy mobility option.” Still, Spin said it also interrupted its operations “in very few markets,” either because a city requested it or because a university campus was closed. (A spokesperson did not indicate in which cities the service was interrupted.)
Of the remaining scooters still available for rent, all companies say they have stepped up their remediation efforts and introduced new workplace protocols for workers to ensure social distance in the warehouses that are still open.
Lyft still offers scooters for rent in San Francisco, but has discontinued operations in Miami at the city’s request. Jump, owned by Uber, did not respond to requests for comment. According to StreetsblogJump only interrupted scooter activities in Sacramento, California. Last month, Lyft said in a legal application that the outbreak in China has led to production delays in certain auto parts and components of bicycles and scooters.
Scooter sharing is not the only mobility service to suffer from the pandemic. Public transport has been cratered and the income from journeys has practically dried up. Ride hailing services such as Uber and Lyft are also seeing a steep drop in gross bookings in cities heavily affected by the disease. Three weeks of social distance and warnings to stay at home have taken a huge bite out of the total travel made by all modes of transport.
But since people avoid transit and shared travel modes, the silver lining seems to be the number of personal mobility trips that are increasing. For example, in New York City, bicycle traffic is on the East River bridges more than 50 percent and Citi Bike ridership up nearly 70 percent compared to this time last year. But city officials are not doing enough to protect the riders who switch to bicycles; The number of cyclist injuries increased by 43 percent between March 9 and March 15, according to NYPD statistics obtained by Streetsblog.
During the pandemic, cities have a unique opportunity to redesign their streets to prioritize these low-carbon modes of transportation. “Staying at home and following government recommendations for social distance is the first priority, if you have to travel and don’t want to travel by public transport, or if public transport has reduced services, cycling can be a good alternative,” Virginia Tech said transportation expert Ralph Buehler in an email.