I was a very frequent Bird user before receiving a $190 ticket on Friday in Santa Monica for not wearing a helmet. It would be nice if Bird placed a reminder to wear a helmet anywhere besides the bottom of the scooter where you put your foot on thus rendering the information on wearing a helmet obstructed. No one here in Santa Monica has been riding these scooters with helmets. How do I know? Because there are hundreds of them riding all over Santa Monica and Venice all day.
Now that users are starting to get $190 tickets Bird is sending free $20 helmets out instead of covering the cost of the users' tickets. Bird could have EASILY placed a dialog in the app to inform you that its illegal to operate a scooter without a helmet before unlocking the scooter, but that would've hurt their revenue since most people hop on these scooters unplanned and don't carry around a helmet. Bird would rather use dark patterns to get people to commit illegal acts than have a user click through to accept and acknowledge that you're either riding legally or illegally.
Here's the "kicker" though, when I was pulled over the police officer informed me it was illegal to be operating the Bird WITH A HELMET on the street I was on despite the fact I was in a bike lane and not on the sidewalk. Operating a Bird on a street with a speed limit above 25 MPH is illegal. Bird didn't care to share this fact with its riders either. The city is suing Bird for operating illegally. I plan on fighting my ticket in court and no longer use Bird because I feel tricked into having broken a law I knew nothing about.
how does it compares in price, performance and built compares to the Xiaomi Mi Electric that uses the same LG’s lithium cells that Tesla uses and has a range of 30 km, 98,425.197 feet or 18.5 miles between charges?
Tried Birdies while staying in Paris for about a week last October. It was so much fun, although depending on the distance you need to cover - not exactly the cheapest one. We actually brought our bicycles with us to move around Paris. Used them once, then tried Birdies just for fun - and that's it, we fell in love with them, bicycles were forgotten for the rest of our stay. Again, this is not one of the cheapest joys depending on the length of the ride, but for really short distances combined with lots of fun – it's worth it.
Pros:
Easy to set up, easy to learn, and fun, fun, fun
Cons:
Don't know about alternatives, I tried only Bird. Improvement: Please, come to Germany.
This product charged my card twice. I saw on the app that it was a 5 dollar ride so I tried it. I look on my bank statement and it charged me 20 bucks. I looked on the app and it had clicked auto recharge. It did that it self. I will no longer be using a bird because of that and will be disputing the charges with my bank. It wouldn't let me change my rating but I give it a 1/5
Replies
Ask the 1000+ people who have been ticketed in Santa Monica & Venice in the past week.
Pros:Easy to get around for cheap
Cons:Illegal to ride most places and Bird doesn't inform you of what is legal and illegal.
Bindle
I can't believe how much fun these things are!
Pros:Simple, quick, fun transport for the "last mile" commute.
Cons:Not fast enough! -jk 🚀 Would love to see more Birds around.
I think this has multiple purposes. For elders in the group who can’t keep up with the group an excellent way for them to enjoy the city view
Pros:Small, compact, can get between cars & people well
Cons:no at to carry your items
Tried Birdies while staying in Paris for about a week last October. It was so much fun, although depending on the distance you need to cover - not exactly the cheapest one. We actually brought our bicycles with us to move around Paris. Used them once, then tried Birdies just for fun - and that's it, we fell in love with them, bicycles were forgotten for the rest of our stay. Again, this is not one of the cheapest joys depending on the length of the ride, but for really short distances combined with lots of fun – it's worth it.
Pros:Easy to set up, easy to learn, and fun, fun, fun
Cons:Don't know about alternatives, I tried only Bird. Improvement: Please, come to Germany.
but as soon as it will come global, I’ll give it a shot
Pros:Inteteresting startup which might be popular around the world
Cons:«limited access» i haven’t tried this service in action, because its not available in my country