<rant> The 2000s New York decision to put bike lanes all over the place made the city less livable. For example, Hudson St went from three or four lanes of one

<rant> The 2000s New York decision to put bike lanes all over the place made the city less livable. For example, Hudson St went from three or four lanes of one-way traffic moving predictably, to two lanes of one-way traffic going a predictable speed and a parallel roadway of bicycles moving at unpredictable speeds and behaving in ways to preserve their momentum. In an environment where the healthy people you see on bikes could have walked where they were going, or taken the subway (pre-Cuomo MTA), they weren't doing anything virtuous compared to all of the other car-less New Yorkers they were shouting at whenever they breezed through an intersection. Biking in New York was recreation when the subways worked, and fun that made sense on places like the long bike paths without pedestrian cross traffic. Intuitively, these electric scooters would not be the same nuisance to people trying to walk somewhere, or just going out for a stroll. They start from a stop more quickly so people don't try to unsafely preserve their momentum, and their lower cruising speed would tend to allow them to avoid obstacles more easily. <end rant> I know I sound like the people in this "Hark! A Vagrant"[1], but bike lanes for the recreation of a small group of people really did make walking around quiet neighborhoods in New York less peaceful and enjoyable. These scooters don't at all sound like they would have the same impact. [1] http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=331 http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=331