Scoot Networks

Scoot Rides (est. in 2011), also known as just Scoot, is an American company which provides public electric scooter and electric bicycle sharing systems. The company is based in San Francisco, California.

This article is about the scooter sharing company. For the low-cost airline, see Scoot. For other uses, see Scoot (disambiguation).
Scoot Rides
Subsidiary
IndustryPublic transport
Founded2011
FounderMatt Ewing, Michael Keating, and Dan Riegel
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
,
United States
Area served
San Francisco Bay Area, Santiago and Barcelona
Key people
Michael Keating
(Co-President)
ServicesPublic electric scooter sharing systems
Parent Bird
Websitescoot.co

History

Scoot Rides, Inc. was founded in 2011 by Matt Ewing, Michael Keating, and Dan Riegel.[1][2] Keating (current Scoot CEO) has a background in transportation software and urban planning, Edwing previously worked with MoveOn advocacy group, and Riegel was a co-founder of EnergyHub.[2]

By September 2012, the company had raised $775,000 from investors including Lisa Gansky and Greenstart.[3][4]

The company opened its service to public beta in San Francisco on September 26, 2012 with 10 scooters.[3] Their fleet expanded to 50 in late 2012.[3]

By July 7, 2016 Scoot Rides scooters had collectively accumulated over 1,000,000 miles of riding.[5]

In 2016, the company received additional funding, primarily from Mahindra Partners and Vision Ridge Capital, for a new fleet of hundreds of electric scooters by GenZe.[5][6]

In November 2017, the company indicated its intentions to expand and include additional cities beyond San Francisco.[7]

The company expanded to Barcelona in May 2018 with 500 electric scooters and the addition of bike sharing to its services with 1,000 electric bikes.[8][9]

On June 12, 2019, Scoot Rides was acquired by Bird, a competitor, for an undisclosed value. Scoot Rides will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Bird.[10][11]

Services
GenZe 2.0 Electric Scooter utilized by Scoot Network fleet

Scoot Rides provides an online network for sharing electric scooters,[1][5] which are also owned and maintained by the company.[3][4] The service has been referred to by the media as the "Zipcar for scooters".[3][4]

The company also provides a similar model for electric bike sharing systems.[8] In August 2018, the company was also chosen as one of the providers of San Francisco's scooter-sharing system using dockless electric kick scooters.[12]

In August 2019, Los Angeles Times criticized the company for not providing services to the residents of Tenderloin and Chinatown.[13]

The service utilizes GPS to track the vehicles.[3] Riders of scooters are required to have a valid driver's license, but not a motorcycle license.[3][5] Riders are provided insurance by Scoot Networks.[3] Each scooter has helmets stored in their cargo bin for the rider's usage.[3]

Pricing

The prices of the most popular products are as following, currently as of October 2018 (in US-Dollars):

  • Scoots (electric mopeds): starting from $4
  • Kicks (electric scooters): starting from $1

Target audience

The target audience is 18- 45-year-old users, who have access to the scoot mobile app via their smartphone.

Operations

Scoot Rides' headquarters are located in San Francisco, California.[1] Founder Michael Keating serves as co-president.[1]

Fleet

In San Francisco, Scoot Rides utilizes electric scooters by GenZe,[14] a company owned by the Mahindra Group, whose private-equity business, Mahindra Partners, has invested in Scoot Rides.[15][16]

In Barcelona, the company utilizes electric scooters by Spanish company Silence.[8]

References
  1. "Scoot Networks, Inc.: Private Company Information - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  2. Perez, Sarah (September 12, 2012). "Scoot, The "Zipcar For Scooters," Grabs $550K In Seed Funding". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
  3. Lawler, Ryan (2012-09-26). ""Zipcar For Scooters" Startup Scoot Networks Launches To The Public In San Francisco". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  4. Michelsen, Charis (2012-03-12). "Scoot Networks is the Zipcar of Electric Scooters". cleantechnica.com. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  5. Shahan, Cynthia (2016-07-07). "Scoot Networks Expanding With GenZe Electric Scooters -- 1,000,000 Zero-Emission Miles To Date". cleantechnica.com. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  6. "Mahindra Partners funds US urban mobility firm Scoot Networks". Livemint. June 28, 2016. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  7. Thadani, Trisha (2017-11-30). "Scoot Networks plans expansion of electric scooter rentals to Barcelona". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  8. Baldwin, Roberto (2018-05-30). "Scoot adds a bike-sharing service as it expands to Barcelona". Engadget. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
  9. Kokalitcheva, Kia (May 30, 2018). "Scoot is expanding to Spain and adding bikes". Axios. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  10. Dean, Sam; Bhuiyan, Johana (2019-06-12). "Bird buys Scoot — and a back door into San Francisco's rental scooter market". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  11. Abril, Danielle (2019-06-12). "Bird Buys Competitor Scoot, Further Consolidating the Crowded Scooter-Rental Market". Fortune. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  12. Said, Carolyn (August 30, 2018). "Scooters to return to SF; Scoot, Skip picked as Lyft, Uber spurned". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  13. Bhuiyan, Johana (August 16, 2019). "Scooter start-up promised to serve a whole city. Then it cut out two poor areas". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
  14. Zart, Nicholas (2017-07-18). "GenZe E-Scooter Partners With Postmates". cleantechnica.com. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
  15. Balakrishnan, Paran (2017-10-31). "Racing down new roads". Business Line. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
  16. Rai, Nayantara (2018-02-17). "Government creating aspiration for electric mobility: Anand Mahindra". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
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