Fascinating statistics and reporting on the economics of scooters from players like Lime and Bird. Not looking like the best of business models.
The average lifespan of a scooter was 28.8 days
The median lifespan was 26 days
The average vehicle went 163.2 miles over 92 trips during its lifetime
Five of the 129 initial-cohort scooters disappeared the same day they went into service (a lifespan of “0” days)
The scooter with the longest lifespan made it 112 days, last appearing in the data on Nov. 29
Only seven of 129 scooters lasted more than 60 days
Utilization
The average trip lasted 18 minutes
The average scooter did 3.49 rides per day
Revenue
Bird charges $1 to unlock a scooter and $0.15 per minute
At 18 minutes, the average trip generated $3.70 in revenue (note that this, based on three months of data in Louisville, is nearly identical to the $3.65 in revenue per ride Bird reportedly told investors it was averaging as of June)
At 3.49 rides per day, the average scooter generated $12.91 in revenue per day
General costs, based on reporting by The Information
Bird spent $1.72 per ride on charging costs
It spent another $0.51 per ride, on average, on repairs
Credit-card fees cost $0.41 per ride
Customer support adds $0.06 per ride
Insurance is $0.05 per ride
This adds up to $2.75 in what you could consider operating costs per ride
Louisville-specific costs, from the city’s dockless vehicle policy
A company pays $2,000 for a probationary license (required for the first six months of operation)
It pays an additional $1,000 to receive a full operating license
The city charges an annual $50 fee per allotted dockless vehicle
Plus a daily $1 fee per dockless vehicle
And $100 per designated group parking area
Louisville scooternomics, in sum:
A scooter generates $3.70 in revenue per ride
Deducting per-ride costs of charging, repairs, credit-card fees, customer support, and insurance, leaves $0.95 per ride
Multiplied by 3.49 rides per day is $3.32 in net revenue per scooter per day
Minus the city’s $1 daily fee leaves $2.32