E-scooter operators complain of vandalism
As many as 50 Bird Canada units burned in ‘organized fashion,’ spokesperson says
E-scooters have moved from being a hot-button issue in Edmonton to just being hot.
The alternative mode of transportation rolled onto city streets in August with companies like Bird and Lime offering services. Since the launch, there have been a few bumps along the way with Mayor Don Iveson saying things weren’t going well because riders weren’t following the rules.
Now there appears to be another snag as numerous e-scooters have been torched.
Alex Petre, general manager for Bird Canada, said the company operates in more than 100 markets worldwide but this is a first.
“Since the beginning of September, we have found scooters being burned,” she said. “The person doing this is mostly burning the top part of the scooter, which is actually where the brain is.
“We believe this is someone doing this in a pretty organized fashion just because of the sheer number of scooters we have found.”
Petre said roughly 50 scooters have been damaged. Each scooter costs about $1,000. Not all of them had to be replaced — a few were able to be repaired.
In September, Bird had about 400 scooters in its fleet.
Petre said it costs the company a lot of money to repair the scooters in addition to the lost revenue from them being taken off the road.
“Hopefully this gets some attention and hopefully we can stop this kind of behaviour,” she said.
“This really put a damper on things.”
Petre says police are investigating and she believes a blowtorch was used based on the level of damage to the unit.
“If it was gasoline, not all of it would burn,” she said. “It would smell (so) we believe it’s a blowtorch. Of course, this is an assumption.”
A Lime spokesperson said the company is working with authorities and called the vandalism an inconvenience.
Lime, however, did not provide additional details about how many scooters have been damaged.
Petre said she didn’t believe the arson was motivated by a corporate rival since both Bird and Lime were targeted.
“Our drivers and staff have walked around and found some of the Lime (scooters) burned as well,” she said. “I don’t think it is a company-specific necessarily being targeted, I think it is the e-scooters being targeted. Sadly, it is against both of us.”