Travis Vanderzanden founded Bird Ride Scooters, usually referred to as Bird or Bird Scooters, in 2017 in Venice, California. Vanderzanden says that he has been fascinated by transportation since he was a kid. His mother was a bus driver and he often went along with her on the route after school. He watched (and wondered) with fascination at how people managed to get to the bus stop or get home after getting off of the bus.
Believing that bicycles are a thing of the past, Vanderzanden found that people were extremely interested in renting electric scooters, which provide a simple, economical, and green way to “catch a ride.” Scooters can be left virtually anywhere and picked up the same way. The company charges $5 for the rental, then charges by the minute. 
Vanderzanden solved the recharging problem by adding a section to the mobile app showing which scooters needed charging and where they were located. The company pay $4 per scooter for people to pick them up, take them home and recharge them. All scooters are picked up and put back in their original rental spaces after 9 PM when it’s illegal in most places to ride them due to a lack of lighting on the scooters.
Vanderzanden says that more than 1 million people have taken rides on his scooters, which are now found in 7 metropolitan cities, including San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
Many cities, however, are unhappy with the electric scooters, claiming that riders violate the laws and that scooters are dumped anywhere and everywhere, causing a nuisance. Vanderzanden says that the company tries to educate people on scooter laws and etiquette but the company itself is not to blame if people don’t obey the laws.
Bird Ride currently has headquarters in Santa Monica, California, known as the “Beach Silicon Valley” since numerous startups have offices in this city on the ocean.
Bird Ride Scooters
Travis Vanderzanden founded Bird Ride Scooters, usually referred to as Bird or Bird Scooters, in 2017 in Venice, California. Vanderzanden says that he has been fascinated by transportation since he was a kid. His mother was a bus driver and he often went along with her on the route after school. He watched (and wondered) with fascination at how people managed to get to the bus stop or get home after getting off of the bus.
Believing that bicycles are a thing of the past, Vanderzanden found that people were extremely interested in renting electric scooters, which provide a simple, economical, and green way to “catch a ride.” Scooters can be left virtually anywhere and picked up the same way. The company charges $5 for the rental, then charges by the minute. Vanderzanden solved the recharging problem by adding a section to the mobile app showing which scooters needed charging and where they were located. The company pay $4 per scooter for people to pick them up, take them home and recharge them. All scooters are picked up and put back in their original rental spaces after 9 PM when it’s illegal in most places to ride them due to a lack of lighting on the scooters.
History
Vanderzanden says that more than 1 million people have taken rides on his scooters, which are now found in 7 metropolitan cities, including San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
Many cities, however, are unhappy with the electric scooters, claiming that riders violate the laws and that scooters are dumped anywhere and everywhere, causing a nuisance. Vanderzanden says that the company tries to educate people on scooter laws and etiquette but the company itself is not to blame if people don’t obey the laws.
Bird Ride currently has headquarters in Santa Monica, California, known as the “Beach Silicon Valley” since numerous startups have offices in this city on the ocean.
need contact information to have a scooter that keeps being dumped in my front yard should I throw it away or do you have someone that retrieves them
I was riding your scooter when it fell apart causing my face to be permanently disfigured and my arm broken and possibly damaged for life I don’t have the same movement in my arm I think they need to have people going around fixing them so whoever messed with them the night before won’t have any reason to suffer like I have I actually am loosing my house due to me not remembering to do the simple things like check my mail.
I would attach pictures to show you but it won’t let me for some reason.
I live in Mesa, AZ. In Nov of 2018 I applied to be a charger for Bird. I received an email stating that I “appeared to have the right stuff to be a charger” and that Onboarding would contact me soon with information on how and where I could pick up my chargers and get started. I never heard back from them. Over the next year I tried to contact Bird through the Help application but only ever received the same auto-reply, “please be patient, this may take several weeks…” After a year I submitted a new application but I don’t believe that it went through because it said I already have an account.
In the meantime, I applied to Lime Scooters in this same area and they responded right away. I was collecting and charging Limes within a couple of weeks. Over the past year I harvested, juiced, and deployed over 2300 Limes with a 98% Perfect Deployment rate (on time, fully charged, in proper place). As of yesterday, 1/9/2020, Lime has ceased operations in AZ.
Since 11/2018 I have been interested in charging for Bird but to no avail. Now that Lime has ceased operations, I am even more interested in getting onboard with Bird.
What do I have to do to get a response from Onboarding?
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am a Landscape Contractor for the City of Oakland, CA. I find many abandoned or stripped down Bird scooters in my course of work. I would like to have a Bird Maintenance contact phone # or email address operating in the East Bay Area. I can then report my finds with photos and location information. Thank you.
Ron – East Bay Mobile Wash Co. (510)918-XXXX.
Why am i arguing with rory about me not recieving my payment for my hard work I’ve already recieved payment once connected to my email. Now your asking for my license because i made a complaint thats a reprisal by the way. And not paying me is going to create another legal issue for this company…
Come get your abandoned scooters out of our neighborhood.
Got charged $2.81 cents for a self propelled ride today for about 100 feet and got charged $2.81 for nothing and late for meeting trying to get the thing to work. This is second of two times I have had trouble with your system.
Get my $2.81 once shame on me, get my $2.81 twice, shame on me, won’t be back for more.
R
COMPLAINT
THERE ARE 5 SCOOTERS AT 3420 HANCOCK ST SAN DIEGO CALIF 92110 IN FRONT OF THE WEED SHOP THAT KEEPS ON CROSSING THE STREET AND DUMPING THEM ON THE SIDEWALK,NEXT TO THE SHOPS ALSO AND IT WAS THEIR CUSTOMERS THAT LEAVE THEM AT THE WEED SHOP DAILY ,R , SO PICK THEM UP NOW!!!!
There is a bird scooter left in front of my house. The scooter appears to have been stolen and is in need of repair. It has been at this location for at least two days. The location of the scooter is 17300 Mendota St., Detroit, Michigan, 48221. Please have someone pick up the scooter or I will be forced to discard it. I can be reached at 313-717-XXXX if there are any questions.
This is correspondence between me and Rory and a clear example of your companies inability to police itself and provide adequate community outreach and be a good corporate citizen.
Below is Rory’s email to me and below that is my reply please have a conversation with Rory and never ever contact me with bullsh*t like this again!
Rory (Bird)
Jun 10, 10:39 AM PDT
Hey Zoran,
Continuously writing into HELP using profanity is improper conduct towards Bird employees, which violates the Chargers Services Agreement.
Please keep in mind that you are not obligated to charge.
Thank you!
Best,
Rory
Reply:
Hey Rory I am not nor will I ever be your customer so I have not signed your terms of service. If I direct profanity towards your company, I am doing just that. I am not directing anything at any individual just your parasite of a company. On a daily basis I encounter your go*dam scooters impropriety parked blocking the sidewalk blocking driveways and being operated in an illegal or unsafe manner. So Rory you tell me where to send my complaints about the mess you and your customers leave behind, because every time I write in to your company I get a reply that assumes that I am a customer (much like today), which makes me think that you do not care about community complaints. Well either that or your company employs complete idiots that cannot read a complaint about improperly parked scooters blocking the sidewalk. Rory please explain why I even have to do this, I am spending my time and mobile data sending you photographs of the offending scooters (which by the way your staff doesn’t even know how to pull the location data from the metadata in a photo) and you still have not remedied the situation? Every time I send a complaint I also send it to the appropriate city department so that they know that you are doing nothing I just hope they do something with the information, because unfortunately not every city can be like Beverly Hills, when I am there I just contact the city and they come and impound the offending scooter.
Rory if you want to provide me with the correct department that will take immediate action to come and take the scooters away please do, otherwise don’t you ever write me another email about my language or behavior you are operating in Santa Monica because the city and it’s residents allow you to. Professional conduct on my part only comes when your company operates in a professional manner, if that were the case we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
I would thank you but you owe me the apology.
Zoran Milosavljevic
With all the negativity to the scooter would you be able to add brake sensors on your scooters to prevent public collision like they have on cars now
there is a large quantity of scooters being sold at auction i would like to speak to someone about them
thank you Amram Weinstock
my cell#347585XXXX
I have been a charger for maybe a month or two and have received an email telling me I was in violation of moving uncaptured scooters and then today receive an email telling me my account has been deleted and I am no longer allowed to charge birds. I responded to both emails advising them that I have not moved any scooters or held scooters unless I have captured them to charge. I have seen several people in my complex holding scooters in their apartments until they reach a higher payout and I have reported it and advised of the scooters being moved and yet I’m the one getting in trouble and now unable to charge scooters when I have not done anything wrong. I go out and look for my scooters every night or the nights I am able to at least. I know the rules and have not broken any rules but am being accused of doing so and id like to know who I can speak to about this as I would like to get my account reinstated and continue charging as I was doing it the right way per your rules. Its very frustrating when I am doing what I am supposed to and there are so many people around me who are not and I lose my opportunity to charge when ive been doing the right thing.