Electric scooters are the latest perk at this Uber-for-helicopters startup

Madeline Stone / Business
Insider

• Blade, an
  aviation startup that offers on-demand private flights on
  helicopters and seaplanes, is providing its employees with an
  unusual perk: electric
  scooters for all.
• Blade says it’s providing employees with electric scooters to
  save them money on transportation and ease commutes to their
  office.
• The office already has a helipad, but em
• Scooters will be dockless and available for employees to
  check out for 24 hours at a time.

Employees of Blade, an on-demand helicopter ride startup, may not
be able to fly to work like some of its posh clientele, but at
least they’ll be able to commute in style thanks to the company’s
latest work perk: electric scooters.

The Manhattan-based Blade will soon provide
electric scooters to its 25-full time employees, chief financial
officer Sean Grennan told Business Insider in an email.
The “scooter-sharing pilot program” is meant to ease the
back-and-forth commute to work for employees and save money on
transportation costs, Grennan said.

Under the Blade pilot program, electric scooters can be checked
out for up to 24 hours from the company’s helipad-equipped
headquarters, which is located in Manhattan’s Chelsea
neighborhood. Like many electric scooter startups run by Lime,
Bird
and Spin, the
Blade scooters will be dockless, meaning that they can be left
anywhere — an app will tell the users, in this case Blade
employees, where the closest available scooter can be
found. 

Grennan says that the scooters, pictured below, are being
provided by “various manufacturers,” giving Blade the opportunity
to test out their models.

Blade

The company notes that the scooters would help “a number of
Brooklyn based employees” impacted by next year’s shutdown of the
L subway line, a popular route for connecting Manhattan and
Brooklyn.

Even as transportation startups are entering the scooter
ride-share industry, Blade doesn’t have any intention of
expanding beyond helicopters and into the fast-growing scooter
sector, Greenan said.

Blade, a startup founded in 2015, offers on-demand private
flights on helicopters, seaplanes, and jets. Through its app,
customers can book seats on daily scheduled flights, or charter
their own on-demand flights. 

Read more:

‘Uber-for-helicopters’ startup Blade just raised $38 million
— here’s what it’s like to fly to the Hamptons

The company initially offered flights only between Manhattan and
nearby destination spots, like the Hamptons, Nantucket,
Westchester, and the Jersey Shore. Blade has since then expanded
its offerings to five-minute Blade Bounce helicopter
flights to New York area airports, commercial-sized aircraft flights to
Miami, and jet planes to Vermont ski
resorts.

Blade started off with its one helipad located at its office
headquarters, but now has four private helipads (as well as
customer lounges for pre-takeoff imbibing) located around the
city. Take a look:

Location
of Blade’s four private terminals around
Manhattan
Google
Maps