Glide Scooters company looking to expand to other cities outside El Paso
EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — The El Paso owned scooter company, Glide, is looking to expand to other cities.
At the same time larger scooter companies are pulling out of major cities like San Antonio and Phoenix.
The El Paso-based company Glide said they’re seeing high ridership and profits while other scooter companies are falling. They say the key is to work closely with city government and don’t flood the city with too many scooters.
“What were looking for is a very specific partner so a city that will work with us the same way worked with the city of El Paso,” said Jonathan Lopez, CEO of Glide Scooters.
“Were not looking to be in places that already have thousands of scooters,” said Lopez.
But as Glide looks to grow, other scooter companies such as Lime, have announced they will be leaving cities like San Diego, Phoenix and Atlanta because they weren’t making enough money.
“We are a profitable scooter company which doesn’t usually happen -- most scooter companies are not,” said Lopez. “Why we got an investment from SABA who is a local venture capital investment firm.”
“I think a lot of the reasons companies are leaving some of those cities not only have to do with those companies but actually the city rules themselves,” said Lopez.
Lopez said the key is working with the city from day one, making sure you have employees to clean them up and not having too many scooters.
City official say there is a limit of only 200 scooters per company.
Some El Pasoans see the popularity.
“All around campus even outside of campus they’re very useful; it definitely makes the walk much shorter,” said Amanda Gutierrez.
“With winterfest you would see young kids, kids my age, parents, even older people using the scooters,” said Daniela Gutierrez.
“From my perspective I don’t see a lot of people using them,” said Amy Flores.
In 2019 Glide saw more than 90,000 scooter rides.
That's in comparison to Suncycle bikes who saw over 15,000 in 2019.
Lopez said they’re competing with other scooter companies to bring Glide to other smaller cities. They’ll release their timeline as soon as its all approved.
City officials said city council will vote next week on the extension of the scooter pilot program.
