Nearly 50 Bird scooters stolen in Windsor recently, company says

Nearly 50 Bird scooters stolen in Windsor recently, company says

Bird Canada's general manager says they always find the culprits

Nearly 50 Bird Canada electric scooters have been stolen from Windsor streets over the past few weeks, according to the general manager of the micromobility company.

Patrick Graham said thieves have been stripping the scooters for parts, particularly the lithium-ion batteries.

“We have found them come on the black market before,” Graham said.

“We're very thankful for the police for working with us.”

Bird currently has approximately 400 scooters on Windsor streets, so Graham said the thefts are significant, but they don’t “necessarily hurt our ability to serve the city.”

The company has pulled scooters from other cities to maintain the local fleet, he said.

Bird scooters and e-bikes returned to Windsor streets early this summer after a brief pause caused by the end of its pilot contract.

The company allows people to rent the bikes and scooters through a smart phone app and return them to any of dozens of parking areas across the city.

It operates in more than 20 cities in Canada, according to its website, but thefts have been more common in Windsor, Graham said.

They have occurred periodically over the five years the company has been in the city, he added, but the current number represents a spike.

“We always know this is ultimately somewhat of a risk having dealt with it before,” Graham said. “But you know, we have no intention of not serving the city as we always have.”

Graham said he believes the thefts are linked to organized crime groups who have the resources to quickly take apart the vehicles and sell the batteries on the black market or to certain recyclers who are unaware of their origins.

But he said in the past, authorities have eventually located all of the thieves.

“There's a lot of information in those vehicles,” he said.

“So we have a pretty good understanding of where they go and they're taken…. So it's just kind of a matter of time until we solve this one again.”

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CBC reached out to several businesses in the city that sell mobility devices for people with disabilities, some of which also contain lithium-ion batteries, but those companies were not aware of thefts involving the products they sell.

“Anyone buying something like that knows the value in it,” said Jessica Senay, the general manager at Comfort Mobility and Home Health Care.

“They're not going to leave it outside. They're not going to leave it unattended. We recommend that they insure the product.”

Heather Kitching reports local news for CBC stations across Ontario and the North. You can reach her at heather.kitching@cbc.ca.

With files from Windsor Morning