4 ms·
I've ridden a few of these. They're pretty fun and cheap. I actually like the model for trips in the 1mi range. In an ideal world full of well behaved people
by habosa 9y ago
I've ridden a few of these. They're pretty fun and cheap. I actually like the model for trips in the 1mi range. In an ideal world full of well behaved people and good intentions I'd keep them around.
But am I the only one that has a problem with the complete hubris shown by these companies. Raise $100M, buy thousands of $500 Chinese scooters, drop them on the city sidewalks and hope everyone just deals with it.
Why can you disrupt life in a city just because you have a lot of VC money? What about when all the competitors come and we're drowning in low quality scooters?
And let's not kid ourselves that these scooters will even remain loved. Right now they're unsustainability cheap and vulnerable. Bird and Spin are undoubtedly bleeding money. When they come back and triple the prices and change the model we'll see we've sold our sidewalks for nothing.
- randyrand 9y agoTheir profit margins are huge, though. I bought an electric scooter for $300 (Segway ES1). It costs near nothing to charge. These scooters make back their money in a mere 40 hours of use. A 1 week car rental would have to cost $35,000 to have the same profit margin.
- coatmatter 9y agoPeople who don't get around under their own steam (even if electrics are involved) don't see it the way you and I do. While they don't blink at the costs of car registration, fuel and maintenance cost (not to mention initial outlay), a few hundred dollars on a bicycle or scooter is seen as quite a leap of faith because they're unsure about whether they can adapt to fit it into their lives. Anglophone societies are very blinkered into thinking that car is king.
- kalleboo 9y agoI'm waiting for the first one to go up in flames