The Covid Crisis Could Finally Make the Scooter Industry Profitable
As cities reopen, scooters seem safer than public transportation
Earlier this year, as Covid-19 began to spread worldwide and major cities went on lockdown, micromobility scooter companies took a major hit. With almost no customers out on the streets, newfound fears of foreign surfaces, and rampant concern about contagion, the future of the industry looked uncertain.
Most scooter companies pulled their fleets out of circulation. Here in San Francisco, only Ford-owned Spin was still operating as early as March. Bloomberg reported that Lime would be bankrupt in 12 weeks. Bird infamously laid off 400 staff members in a two-minute Zoom call. Both Lime and Bird reopened for business and then pulled scooters off streets a second time amid protests in early June. Even before the pandemic, the industry often appeared to be on shaky ground, with a glut of scooter operators, fickle relationships with cities, and challenges around maintenance and labor.
So, is the micromobility industry dead? Hardly.
Never underestimate the power of reams of venture capital money to float an industry through a challenging time. Economies are slowly beginning to reopen, and far from facing existential challenges, the scooter industry…
