Page 53 - Fortune-November 01, 2018

FOCUS

AROUND FOUR O’CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON,
well before the sun begins to set on the sea-
side city of Santa Monica, Mark Devlin hits
the streets in search of electric scooters on life
support. The wireless, dockless devices are
wildly popular here, propped up on seem-
ingly every corner of town in bright red,
pink, black, or green. But humans must take
them off-line to charge them. By late after-
noon, there are usually a few here and there
that have fallen below a functioning battery
threshold. So Devlin goes hunting.
“You have to watch the Birds, see where
they go, and see where they have congre-
gated,” Devlin, 57, says. “Then I strategize
what my night is going to look like.”
The real action starts after sundown. Many
of the scooters, provided by at least four
companies including Bird, Lime, Lyft, and
Uber, deactivate at 9 p.m., when the services
shut down for the night. So at 8 p.m., Devlin
parks the U-Haul truck he rents for the occa-
sion next to the largest flock he can find—to
“preclaim them,” he says—and waits.
At the stroke of nine, Devlin kicks into
gear. He homes in on a flock of Birds using
the app on his mobile phone, tosses each one
into his truck, and makes his way to the next
location—only to find that another charger
(or “Juicer,” as they’re known for Lime) has
seized the spoils. No sweat; Devlin moves on.
At another scooter gathering, Devlin sprints,
successfully claiming one mere seconds before TECH weighs 20 pounds or more.) Twelve hours later,
another charger. By 10 o’clock, streets once he’s back on the street to deposit his catch at an
flush with scooters are swept clean. Using a rented official drop spot—a “Bird Nest.”
Devlin, by day a stage designer for rock truck, Devlin Hundreds of millions of dollars raised,
acts like Metallica and Judas Priest, makes transports billions of dollars in value—to say that the
about $200 to $300 a night (at $5 to $20 per scooters to humble electric scooter has taken Silicon Val-
his home for
scooter), picking up between 40 and 60 scoot- recharging ley and its sister to the south, Silicon Beach,
ers for recharging as part of Bird and Lime’s overnight. by storm is an understatement. Santa Monica
bounty system for retrieval. The nightly gig has authorized 2,000 motorized scooters as
helps pay the bills for his family of four and part of a new pilot program to solve the “last
allows him to be his own boss. “I’m actually mile” of local journeys; San Francisco has
making more money doing this than what green-lit 2,500 as part of its own effort. And
my chosen job is willing to pay,” he says. “The e-scooters are appearing in cities across the
instant gratification—it gets addictive.” nation including Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver,
Without a garage at home, Devlin charges Detroit, Indianapolis, Miami, and St. Louis.
scooters in his living room, half of which has The logistics companies behind these elec-
been converted into a charging station. His tric scooters are valued like software startups,
wife doesn’t love the new decor, but “she really but many rely heavily on hardware and an
likes what picking up 60 Birds is doing to my army of independent contractors like Devlin
body,” Devlin says with a chuckle. (Each scooter to maintain their fleet. Without the help

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