Skip to main content

Bird enables reports of poorly parked and damaged e-scooters

Bird is to roll out an app feature which allows people to report poorly parked or damaged electric scooters to the company. It is an attempt to solve one of the biggest bugbears surrounding the deployment of scooters and dockless bikes – the issue of what happens when users abandon or abuse the vehicles. Bird says the app’s new ‘Community Mode’ will improve parking and safety in the cities where it operates, such as Portland and Salt Lake City. The company will use reports to reposition poorly parked e-s
May 8, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
Bird is to roll out an app feature which allows people to report poorly parked or damaged electric scooters to the company.


It is an attempt to solve one of the biggest bugbears surrounding the deployment of scooters and dockless bikes – the issue of what happens when users abandon or abuse the vehicles.

Bird says the app’s new ‘Community Mode’ will improve parking and safety in the cities where it operates, such as Portland and Salt Lake City. The company will use reports to reposition poorly parked e-scooters and make sure damaged models are no longer available for riding. Also, the company will notify mechanics to remove the damaged vehicles from the road to be repaired.  Travis VanderZanden, CEO of Bird, says the company wants to work with communities to help alleviate problems associated with congestion and carbon emissions.

“Community Mode gives any individual the power to engage with Bird in real time so that we can work together on making our streets safer and people-friendly,” VanderZanden adds.

Related Content

  • Leading Finland’s transport revolution
    July 18, 2017
    Anne Berner, Finland’s minister of transport and communications, does not fit the normal political mould. She is not a career politician but a business executive who became a member of parliament in 2015 and has said from the outset that she will only serve one term. Without concerns about being re-elected and a clear view of the future of transport, Berner can concentrate on what needs to be done - tackling some of the more contentious and intransigent subjects. Her name is best known for two major initiat
  • A streetcar named...reliable
    June 27, 2018
    When Atlanta’s streetcar project had some issues, Siemens helped to solve them – but started out by just listening, says Chris Maynard, the company’s head of rail services. It’s funny how often niggling problems can be a warning sign that there are bigger issues requiring attention – and not so funny how things can escalate if you don’t pay attention to them. With that in mind, Siemens was hired as service provider for the Atlanta Streetcar system - four vehicles operating on a two-mile loop in downtown
  • BlackBerry’s Jeff Davis: ‘Hands off 5.9GHz!’
    September 25, 2019
    As a US Marine, BlackBerry’s Jeff Davis saw the world’s trouble spots. But much of his attention is now focused on what he sees as the ITS sector’s biggest issue: cybersecurity. Adam Hill finds out more Oh, I often feel I’m the dumbest guy in the room,” laughs Jeff Davis, senior director, connected transportation, at BlackBerry. It’s hard to credit this. Davis has a range of experience that sets him apart from most people in the ITS sector. He was in the US Marine Corps, with seven tours of duty, inclu
  • ACE report: private sector and user-pay for English roads
    May 16, 2018
    It’s one minute to midnight for funding England’s roads, according to a timely new report - and the clock’s big hand is pointing to some form of user-pay solution, reports David Arminas. Is there any way out of future user-pay funding for England’s highway infrastructure? The answer is a resounding ‘no’, according to the recently-published report Funding Roads for the Future. The 25-page document by the London-based Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) calls for a radical rethink about how to