Aug 29, 2018 - Energy & Environment

Bird rolls out tools for cities to track and manage its scooters

Woman riding a Bird scooter in Los Angeles. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Scooter rental company Bird is rolling out a new set of tools for city governments to monitor its service, including access to ridership data and the ability to limit where the scooters can be activated.

Why it matters: Cities have criticized scooter services, like ride-hailing companies before them, for not sharing enough data or being more collaborative. So it's no surprise that Bird, whose aggressive deployment tactics quickly angered city officials, is working to smooth over those relationships now. Other companies are also planning to provide cities with similar capabilities as they work to win local approvals.

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