At least five entrepreneurs have joined the program. They can set their own pricing, operating hours and zoning and add their own branding. They’re also responsible for maintenance, recharging and getting permits from cities. The program is running in places where Bird didn’t plan to set up its own e-scooter networks anytime soon or at all.

The first independent Bird scooter network will arrive in New Zealand next week — rival company Lime already has scooters in Auckland and Christchurch. The Bird Platform networks will expand to Canada and Latin America in the next few weeks.