13 ms·

What It’s Like to Be Part of Bird’s Scooter-Charging Workforce in Atlanta

40 points by nicpottier 8y ago

lainga 8y ago
>“It’s pretty funny — there’s a place where someone keeps putting them on train tracks, so there’s like 20 on these random train tracks,” [Shahid] says. Should put 20 on the tracks and one neatly parked off to the side, so the chargers take the one with least risk. It doesn't look like they're paid more to retrieve scooters in dangerous locations.
- wyldfire 8y ago
  I'm a little puzzled about why Shahid thinks this is 'funny', as it seems pretty obnoxious. The danger posed is not limited to Shahid but also the trains, their operators and passengers/freight. But I'm also puzzled by your comment. Why should anyone put any of them on the tracks?
  - lainga 8y ago
    Hooliganism, vice and moral deficiency. I'm approaching this from the bad user's point of view.
    - wyldfire 8y ago
      Ok, I see. I think your "bad user" model is inconsistent -- they probably care no more for Shahid and his peers than they do for the lives and property related to the railroad.
      - lainga 8y ago
        It's not about Shahid's well-being, but giving him the choice of taking an easier scooter for the same payout and leaving the hooligan's track-obstructing scooters alone.
    - darawk 8y ago
      You could put literally anything mobile onto train tracks for similar effect. Trash cans. Skateboards. Stolen bikes. I don't see how bird scooters increase this problem in any way.
  - rhapsodic 8y ago
    >I'm a little puzzled about why Shahid thinks this is 'funny', as it seems pretty obnoxious. By "funny" I think he meant odd or perplexing.
  - 3547hgff 8y ago
    > I'm a little puzzled about why Shahid thinks this is 'funny'.. As we say here; he probably means 'funny peculiar' not 'funny haha'.
telesilla 8y ago
I wish Mexico City's Mobike[1] had someone running around at night finding bikes - I swear, every day there are less and less on the streets. I've given up even bothering to look for any near me and have gone back to walking to the nearest ecobici stand or calling an uber. [1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-crime-mobike/bike-theft-puts-the-brakes-on-chinas-mobike-in-mexico-city-idUSKCN1IX381?il=0 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-crime-mobike/bike-... "Mobike, which recently changed hands for $2.7 billion, equips its bicycles with an electronic alarm that alerts the company when one of them leaves its operating zone." Yeah that doesn't work - I always rode one to neighbouring areas without even thinking about it, and there is no disincentive. Reporting a bike that says it's on the street, but is actually in someone's yard behind a fence, takes 3 days to get a response in the hope that the bad actor gets their account revoked.
- _rpd 8y ago
  I gave up on car2go for similar reasons. On the rare occasion that I could actually find the car I'd reserved, it was parked in private parking. There were allegedly punishments for doing this, but they never seemed to make the practice any less common.
sandworm101 8y ago
What i do not understand is how these collectors are expected to enter non-public areas to retrieve company property. Railway tracks? Id punish the person who left it there. The rule should be that you leave it in a safe public place. Then again, leave anything in public place for too long and you should be charged with littering. Seeing these things lying around waiting to be picked up is depressing. I wish i could just leave my stuff in the city park and pick it up a few days later.
- yardie 8y ago
  I wish that were the case. At least in my city, every night the birds are gone. I've grown to like them, but using them to go home from the pub or anything latenight hasn't happened for me. I assume Chargers are picking them up to take home no matter the state of charge. So in that case I guess that's how Bird gets around the littering laws. They aren't abandoned if they are retrieved every night.
- Symbiote 8y ago
  > I wish i could just leave my stuff in the city park and pick it up a few days later. Isn't that what on-street parking for cars is, except each car takes up 20× as much space? There are some bike racks near me which are positioned in what was a car parking space, making a nice comparison. [1] is the basic version, [2] to make a point. [1] http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I4uxRsnmym8/TM5_oAi1I8I/AAAAAAAAAZ8/HYuAZkxTMys/s640/bicycles+is+car+parking+space.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I4uxRsnmym8/TM5_oAi1I8I/AAAAAAAAAZ... [2] http://mat2.materialicious.com/images/car-shaped-bike-rack-by-cyclehoop-o.jpg http://mat2.materialicious.com/images/car-shaped-bike-rack-b...
  - sandworm101 8y ago
    >> Isn't that what on-street parking for cars is, except each car takes up 20× as much space? No. Because cars, like bikes, are placed in designated spots. When they are not, they are towed and their ownsers fined. Some of these scooters are just left anywhere. Drop a bicycle in the middle of a baseball field and you'll be ticketed for littering. Park a car on a park bench and it will be towed. But these scooters appear in such placed regularly without consequence.
ddtaylor 8y ago
This website has a lot of attention grabbing popups =( It's pretty irritating to be reading an article and get interrupted. > in other Bird-seeded cities, muggers have followed chargers heading into less-populated areas. Some chargers reported being victims of theft Reminds me of Craigslist scams. The solution for CL scams was to only meet in public/safe areas, what is the solution for these muggers? Send a officer sometimes to sting sketchy bait scooters?
- kyleblarson 8y ago
  CCW
  - ddtaylor 8y ago
    I'm a newb what does it stand for?
    - danielvf 8y ago
      CCW means Concealed Carry Permit, in the US Southeast. I’m assuming the poster was recommending legaly carrying a firearm when working alone in the streets at night.
      - Retric 8y ago
        That seems like it would reduce your odds of getting robbed, but increase your odds of being shot. I am not sure if that's a great trade-off, but worth considering.
        ggg9990 8y ago
        You’re looking at it the wrong way. For the target market, getting into a gunfight is the desired outcome. Blasting the brains out of a “thug” without having to go to jail for it is the aspiration. Getting shot and killed is a possibility but that’s why they train all weekend at the range.
creaghpatr 8y ago
In Atlanta the scooters are only scattered throughout a small section of Midtown, so while they are a kind of novelty in that area, I've never encountered one outside of that 1-2 mile radius which is mostly comprised of park and Beltline. Does anyone in ATL know if people are using these on the Beltline? I'm almost certain it's 'not allowed' but the beltline does make for an interesting pairing with the scooters if it wasn't so crowded in the midtown part.
- dointheatl 8y ago
  People are absolutely using these on the Beltline. I even the other day saw a whole flock of Bird riders pass two of the Beltline bike cops, and neither officer so much as batted an eye.
- Multicomp 8y ago
  I have seen a few on the beltline, but they are additionally common on North Ave or Ponce.
- wil421 8y ago
  Midtown is the hotspot and unfortunetly where I commute to work. Really hope the fad goes away. Biking is much better for you and I’m happy Atlanta is embracing bikes. Dekalb has planned a connection between Path and the beltline.
- echelon 8y ago
  They're on the Beltline every day. I nearly got mowed down by a flock of teenage girls on bird scooters the other day. They were riding side by side and didn't seem to care about pedestrians. I wish the app would turn the Beltline into a deadzone and shut the scooters down.
framebit 8y ago
I've seen an uptick in the city of different pedestrian-ish modes of transit: bikes, e-bikes, skateboards, electric skateboards, unicycles (at least near GT), roller blades, all kinds of other stuff, and now Bird scooters are part of the mix. Anything that helps Atlantans get from here to there without a car is a net positive in my book. The Bird scooters being electric also help combat the downside of navigating a hilly city in the summer heat. I really hope that Bird users can continue to be and/or learn to be good citizens: staying off the Beltline, not ditching the scooters on train tracks or private property, etc.
TheBeardKing 8y ago
The Atlantic did a good article about this a few weeks ago: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/charging-electric-scooters-is-a-cutthroat-business/560747/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/charg...
wil421 8y ago
I hope these go away fast. Read about them first on HN and how they were cluttering streets in SF. Now I can see what they mean. I ride public transport to work in Atlanta and find them all over the sidewalks in Midtown. The past month has been much worse. They are literally laying sideways on sidewalks blocking people.
- atwebb 8y ago
  There's some sort of social media astroturfing going on, it's pretty obvious b/w the more "modern" news sites (and some not) and Reddit/HN. Lots of contentless posts or biased headlines/reviews.
  - str33t_punk 8y ago
    Is there? All I read every where is how terrible these things are. I like them. Does that make me a shill?
    - atwebb 8y ago
      It doesn't but the news seems disproportional to the usage, maybe this is the first sign I'm not longer with it.
- prawn 8y ago
  Aren't there bad actors in every space, especially with new technology that stands out or is new to a community? I'm yet to see them where I live, though we do have Ofo shared bikes here which have often fallen over which looks a bit crap. But I'm keen to see the scooters arrive. Seems like a great option which requires limited storage/parking space.

40 points by nicpottier 8y ago

>“It’s pretty funny — there’s a place where someone keeps putting them on train tracks, so there’s like 20 on these random train tracks,” [Shahid] says. Should put 20 on the tracks and one neatly parked off to the side, so the chargers take the one with least risk. It doesn't look like they're paid more to retrieve scooters in dangerous locations.

wyldfire 8y ago
I'm a little puzzled about why Shahid thinks this is 'funny', as it seems pretty obnoxious. The danger posed is not limited to Shahid but also the trains, their operators and passengers/freight. But I'm also puzzled by your comment. Why should anyone put any of them on the tracks?
- lainga 8y ago
  Hooliganism, vice and moral deficiency. I'm approaching this from the bad user's point of view.
  - wyldfire 8y ago
    Ok, I see. I think your "bad user" model is inconsistent -- they probably care no more for Shahid and his peers than they do for the lives and property related to the railroad.
    - lainga 8y ago
      It's not about Shahid's well-being, but giving him the choice of taking an easier scooter for the same payout and leaving the hooligan's track-obstructing scooters alone.
  - darawk 8y ago
    You could put literally anything mobile onto train tracks for similar effect. Trash cans. Skateboards. Stolen bikes. I don't see how bird scooters increase this problem in any way.
- rhapsodic 8y ago
  >I'm a little puzzled about why Shahid thinks this is 'funny', as it seems pretty obnoxious. By "funny" I think he meant odd or perplexing.
- 3547hgff 8y ago
  > I'm a little puzzled about why Shahid thinks this is 'funny'.. As we say here; he probably means 'funny peculiar' not 'funny haha'.

telesilla 8y ago

I wish Mexico City's Mobike[1] had someone running around at night finding bikes - I swear, every day there are less and less on the streets. I've given up even bothering to look for any near me and have gone back to walking to the nearest ecobici stand or calling an uber. [1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-crime-mobike/bike-theft-puts-the-brakes-on-chinas-mobike-in-mexico-city-idUSKCN1IX381?il=0 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-crime-mobike/bike-... "Mobike, which recently changed hands for $2.7 billion, equips its bicycles with an electronic alarm that alerts the company when one of them leaves its operating zone." Yeah that doesn't work - I always rode one to neighbouring areas without even thinking about it, and there is no disincentive. Reporting a bike that says it's on the street, but is actually in someone's yard behind a fence, takes 3 days to get a response in the hope that the bad actor gets their account revoked.

_rpd 8y ago
I gave up on car2go for similar reasons. On the rare occasion that I could actually find the car I'd reserved, it was parked in private parking. There were allegedly punishments for doing this, but they never seemed to make the practice any less common.

sandworm101 8y ago

What i do not understand is how these collectors are expected to enter non-public areas to retrieve company property. Railway tracks? Id punish the person who left it there. The rule should be that you leave it in a safe public place. Then again, leave anything in public place for too long and you should be charged with littering. Seeing these things lying around waiting to be picked up is depressing. I wish i could just leave my stuff in the city park and pick it up a few days later.

yardie 8y ago
I wish that were the case. At least in my city, every night the birds are gone. I've grown to like them, but using them to go home from the pub or anything latenight hasn't happened for me. I assume Chargers are picking them up to take home no matter the state of charge. So in that case I guess that's how Bird gets around the littering laws. They aren't abandoned if they are retrieved every night.
Symbiote 8y ago
> I wish i could just leave my stuff in the city park and pick it up a few days later. Isn't that what on-street parking for cars is, except each car takes up 20× as much space? There are some bike racks near me which are positioned in what was a car parking space, making a nice comparison. [1] is the basic version, [2] to make a point. [1] http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I4uxRsnmym8/TM5_oAi1I8I/AAAAAAAAAZ8/HYuAZkxTMys/s640/bicycles+is+car+parking+space.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I4uxRsnmym8/TM5_oAi1I8I/AAAAAAAAAZ... [2] http://mat2.materialicious.com/images/car-shaped-bike-rack-by-cyclehoop-o.jpg http://mat2.materialicious.com/images/car-shaped-bike-rack-b...
- sandworm101 8y ago
  >> Isn't that what on-street parking for cars is, except each car takes up 20× as much space? No. Because cars, like bikes, are placed in designated spots. When they are not, they are towed and their ownsers fined. Some of these scooters are just left anywhere. Drop a bicycle in the middle of a baseball field and you'll be ticketed for littering. Park a car on a park bench and it will be towed. But these scooters appear in such placed regularly without consequence.

ddtaylor 8y ago

This website has a lot of attention grabbing popups =( It's pretty irritating to be reading an article and get interrupted. > in other Bird-seeded cities, muggers have followed chargers heading into less-populated areas. Some chargers reported being victims of theft Reminds me of Craigslist scams. The solution for CL scams was to only meet in public/safe areas, what is the solution for these muggers? Send a officer sometimes to sting sketchy bait scooters?

kyleblarson 8y ago
CCW
- ddtaylor 8y ago
  I'm a newb what does it stand for?
  - danielvf 8y ago
    CCW means Concealed Carry Permit, in the US Southeast. I’m assuming the poster was recommending legaly carrying a firearm when working alone in the streets at night.
    - Retric 8y ago
      That seems like it would reduce your odds of getting robbed, but increase your odds of being shot. I am not sure if that's a great trade-off, but worth considering.
      - ggg9990 8y ago
        You’re looking at it the wrong way. For the target market, getting into a gunfight is the desired outcome. Blasting the brains out of a “thug” without having to go to jail for it is the aspiration. Getting shot and killed is a possibility but that’s why they train all weekend at the range.

creaghpatr 8y ago

In Atlanta the scooters are only scattered throughout a small section of Midtown, so while they are a kind of novelty in that area, I've never encountered one outside of that 1-2 mile radius which is mostly comprised of park and Beltline. Does anyone in ATL know if people are using these on the Beltline? I'm almost certain it's 'not allowed' but the beltline does make for an interesting pairing with the scooters if it wasn't so crowded in the midtown part.

dointheatl 8y ago
People are absolutely using these on the Beltline. I even the other day saw a whole flock of Bird riders pass two of the Beltline bike cops, and neither officer so much as batted an eye.
Multicomp 8y ago
I have seen a few on the beltline, but they are additionally common on North Ave or Ponce.
wil421 8y ago
Midtown is the hotspot and unfortunetly where I commute to work. Really hope the fad goes away. Biking is much better for you and I’m happy Atlanta is embracing bikes. Dekalb has planned a connection between Path and the beltline.
echelon 8y ago
They're on the Beltline every day. I nearly got mowed down by a flock of teenage girls on bird scooters the other day. They were riding side by side and didn't seem to care about pedestrians. I wish the app would turn the Beltline into a deadzone and shut the scooters down.

framebit 8y ago

I've seen an uptick in the city of different pedestrian-ish modes of transit: bikes, e-bikes, skateboards, electric skateboards, unicycles (at least near GT), roller blades, all kinds of other stuff, and now Bird scooters are part of the mix. Anything that helps Atlantans get from here to there without a car is a net positive in my book. The Bird scooters being electric also help combat the downside of navigating a hilly city in the summer heat. I really hope that Bird users can continue to be and/or learn to be good citizens: staying off the Beltline, not ditching the scooters on train tracks or private property, etc.

TheBeardKing 8y ago

The Atlantic did a good article about this a few weeks ago: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/charging-electric-scooters-is-a-cutthroat-business/560747/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/charg...

wil421 8y ago

I hope these go away fast. Read about them first on HN and how they were cluttering streets in SF. Now I can see what they mean. I ride public transport to work in Atlanta and find them all over the sidewalks in Midtown. The past month has been much worse. They are literally laying sideways on sidewalks blocking people.

atwebb 8y ago
There's some sort of social media astroturfing going on, it's pretty obvious b/w the more "modern" news sites (and some not) and Reddit/HN. Lots of contentless posts or biased headlines/reviews.
- str33t_punk 8y ago
  Is there? All I read every where is how terrible these things are. I like them. Does that make me a shill?
  - atwebb 8y ago
    It doesn't but the news seems disproportional to the usage, maybe this is the first sign I'm not longer with it.
prawn 8y ago
Aren't there bad actors in every space, especially with new technology that stands out or is new to a community? I'm yet to see them where I live, though we do have Ofo shared bikes here which have often fallen over which looks a bit crap. But I'm keen to see the scooters arrive. Seems like a great option which requires limited storage/parking space.