College Students Take Advantage of Bird Motor Scooters in Raleigh, NC
Written by Darryl Johnson
The Bird Motor Scooter is a dockless scooter-share company headquartered in Santa Monica, California. It operates electric scooters in cities throughout North America, at a cost of one dollar to rent plus $.15 - $.20 per minute. People can reserve a local scooter from their smartphone app, ride for a small fee, and leave the scooter anywhere at the completion of their ride. The Bird scooter works closely with various cities to help make transportation better, more environmentally friendly and cost effective. College students in the Raleigh area have been taking advantage of the low-cost transportation option. North Carolina State University, Saint Augustine’s University, Shaw University, Peace College and Meredith College are all located in the heart of the city and students have easy access to the chargeable scooters.
Bird founder, VanderZanden was Chief Operating Officer at Lyft, then Vice-President of International Growth at Uber. It was founded in the summer of 2017 and the company deployed its first scooters that September. Bird has raised about $418 million since it was founding and is currently valued at $2 billion.
The scooter may be the main attraction, but the side hustle in this business is becoming a charger. Area college students are becoming chargers as a means to make money. You can easily become a charger by simply signing up and joining the charger community. The next step would be to go out into the community and find scooters which is called “bird hunting”. Students then bring the scooters back to their residence, charge them, and release them the next day. Payment is made directly each morning for the work done the night before. This is a convenient way for students and even professional bird hunters to earn some quick cash. The Bird company charges a $5 base fee for every scooter charged and release into the community. The prices vary depending on how long it’s been since the scooter has been charged, so the lower the battery the higher pay received. The Bird scooter is a key model for transportation for college students; it makes getting from place-to-place easier and for a lower cost. College communities are embracing this new mode of transportation and income generator for students.