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Electric scooter brand Bird has teamed up with safety app Busby.
Busby works with the sensors in your phone – if a user is involved in an incident, the app will begin a 30-second countdown and if there is no movement or response, their exact location is sent to emergency contacts so help can arrive quickly.
In order to prevent incidents, Busby also alerts other nearby road users that a micro-EV rider is nearby to raise awareness. In only a year of operation, Busby’s app has been downloaded by tens of thousands of people in over 85 countries globally. Bird promotes the reduction of car trips and thus improving air quality by deploying fleets of micro-EVs for short trips. Currently operating in 160 cities worldwide, it has now expanded to the UK.
The collaboration between the two will see Bird riders get a free premium Busby subscription which provides users with additional safety on the roads such as incident detection, incident prevention, near-miss reporting and an SOS Busby flare feature if a rider needs medical or mechanical support.
“The safety of our riders and other road users is our top priority,” said Charlotte Bailey, general manager of Bird UK. “While studies show riding an electric scooter in cities is just as safe as riding a bike, we want to go above and beyond. We’re thrilled to collaborate with Busby and to give our riders great perks for staying safe while on the road.”
Kirk Ryan, co-founder of Busby, added: “Every year there are tens of thousands of incidents involving cyclists on the UK’s roads. As electric scooters become more prevalent in the UK we want people to be as safe as possible when riding. We’re really excited about partnering with Bird – the pioneers of the shared electric scooter industry – to help make their riders and the roads safer for everyone.”
Busby is available to download for free on iOS and Google Play.
