An Edmonton e-scooter rental company says some riders experienced a “technical issue” Monday as reports of glitches emerged on social media.
On a Reddit thread, one commenter reported their rental kept locking up every five minutes while others said they paid for their rentals and were never able to get them to unlock.
Many users said the company refunded them after they reported the technical issues.
Britt Jones, a morning show host with Virgin Radio Edmonton, which is owned by Bell Media, said he was riding a Bird scooter on Monday when he ran into trouble.
“I was riding the bike lane on 83 Avenue, going about 20 (kilometres per hour), pretty much max speed and all of a sudden I just flew off over the front of it,” he said. “It felt like the wheel locked or something.”
Jones posted a photo of his resulting skinned knee to Facebook with the caption “E-scooters are really fun until the front wheel randomly locks and you go over the handlebars!”
He said he’s not sure if it had to do with the technical issues experienced by other Bird users and admitted it could have been his own mistake.
Jones is now encouraging other e-scooter users to take steps to protect themselves in case something goes wrong.
“I would say definitely if you’re just going from A to B bring a helmet with you,” Jones said. “As well as both hands on the handlebars at all times. Anytime I’ve taken one off to do anything I’ve felt not as in control and I’d like to know that everyone on the scooters is as in control as possible.”
Bird Canada did not specify the issues some users were running into, but said in a statement to CTV News Edmonton Tuesday that the problem “has since been resolved.”
