Bird buys Scoot — and a back door into San Francisco's rental scooter market
LOS ANGELES - Perpetual gridlock in Los Angeles and San Francisco has inspired a booming industry of on-demand electric rental scooters, now a familiar sight whizzing along sidewalks and bike lanes in cities around the world.
But there's a limit to how much congestion the e-scooter market can bear.
In a deal that could mark the first major step toward a broader consolidation, Santa Monica's Bird Rides Inc. on Wednesday acquired the San Francisco electric scooter company Scoot for an undisclosed sum.
For Bird, the purchase
