Scooter hire firms hit a dead-end in quest for British licences
AMERICAN scooter hire companies are struggling to overcome legal roadblocks in the UK, meaning plans to enter the London market face being put on ice.
Lime and Bird, two Californian startups, have kick-started a US craze for electric scooters that can be rented using a smartphone app. The companies have launched in Paris this summer but have struggled to obtain regulatory approval to enter the UK despite hiring staff and making overtures to various government bodies, it is understood.
British road laws require vehicles powered by an electric motor to be registered and licensed. London, the most likely candidate for the businesses, also requires rental companies to gain approval from local authorities, a further setback to plans for a city-wide launch.
The London Mayor’s office, Transport for London and the Department for Transport are believed to have held talks with the scooter companies in recent weeks, but they are understood to have proved fruitless, with officials displaying little immediate appetite to change the law to accommodate electric scooters. Lime and Bird were both founded only last year but have raised hundreds of millions and rocketed to valuations of more than $1bn (£762m) as venture capitalists pile in on the latest urban transport phenomenon.
Their Gps-equipped “dockless” scooters are scattered across cities and located using a phone app, which can then unlock them remotely, with users paying to rent the scooters for as little as 30 minutes. However, they have proved controversial in some areas, and resulted in a ban in San Francisco.
Bird has set up a British entity and is understood to have hired a UK manager in Richard Corbett, who runs advertising business Eyetease. Lime has hired its first employee in the UK, former management consultant Eric Chang, to develop its business in Europe, according to a Linkedin posting.
Lime entered Paris in June while Bird followed it yesterday. The companies hope that if this launch is seen as a success, it will encourage British regulators to relax the restrictions on scooters.
Lime and Bird did not respond to requests for comment.