8 ms·

Electric Scooters in New York City? They Just Might Work

64 points by petethomas 8y ago

deevolution 8y ago
They would only be usable half the year because of whether. Also, have to consider that there are lots of people in NYC that will simply scrap the scooters for parts and spare change.
- kawfey 8y ago
  That happens in every venue where electric scooters and dockless bikes are. The company could care less, since they have millions to spend to propagate the brand in lieu of profits.
tomasmik 8y ago
We've had scooters and bikes that you can rent for quite a while now and its pretty cool
- GoMonad 8y ago
  In which city are you?
neonate 8y ago
http://archive.is/27LkO http://archive.is/27LkO
buckhx 8y ago
I bought a Xiaomi scooter in June and received it a few weeks ago. I live in Williamsburg and work in SoHo/Chinatown, and my commute is 15-20 mins compared to 25-30 on the subway (L -> NQR). I obey biking rules and only push if I am on a sidewalk. I haven't felt unsafe outside of riding at night in Brooklyn and not feeling visible enough. Overall it's been great, but can imagine it getting out of hand if they were readily available. For example, I was at the Farmers Market in Union Square last Weds a couple of people were riding powered scooters through the crowd clearly NGAF.
- microdrum 8y ago
  How dare you purchase a Xiaomi scooter! You have to rent them from Lime or Bird. Do you have any idea how many hours these companies spent in Excel designing their tight unit economics? Dozens!
  - stirlo 8y ago
    These scooters are around $400, unless you're using them for a commute its quite a few rides to recoup the purchase cost. Then there's the ability to ride it one way and just leave it without worrying about having it stolen or damaged and losing your $400 investment.
    - microdrum 8y ago
      It's at most 6 months payback for the average commute at current prices.* And that's for a $400 scooter. Think Xiaomi can't get these things into U.S. ports for $300? Think again. Scooter share economics don't work. And now that cities are placing caps on vendors and scooter quantity, prices are going up. Which means payback period to owning the scooter goes down. This is a vale of tears. * What is the average payback period for purchasing a car (μ(p) = $30,000) versus taking the train? Much longer!
      - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
        Payback period is kind of a nebulous concept because you can't easily assign a cost to the trips forgone because they aren't worth taking when you're at the mercy of some 3rd party's pricing and/or schedule. The personal freedom you get from having a scooter and/or a car is hard to overstate.
- torgian 8y ago
  Pfft, GTFO. Kymko or go home
- siruncledrew 8y ago
  For the price, it makes much more sense to buy a scooter if someone is going to use a scooter as their daily commuter transportation. I checked the price of Bird (idk what the prices of Lime/Spin are), and it's $1 per ride plus $.15/min. For 2x20min commutes per day, that's $8/day to ride a scooter. A roundtrip on the subway would be 2x$2.75, so $5.50/day. Taken monthly, it's $160/mo to ride a scooter vs. $110/mo to ride the subway. A Xiaomi scooter is about $500 on Amazon, so the cost would be recouped in less than 5 months. Seems reasonable for those who would be "frequent riders" to just buy their own collapsible scooters and carry it with them into work.
neom 8y ago
Given at least once a week I have to help a blind person or a person in a wheel chair navigate an already challenging built environment. And frequently see someone on a bike-share wobbling the wrong way down a hectic Manhattan street into messenger bikes and yellow cabs, I hope the roll out is considered with these people in mind.
- jseliger 8y ago
  If only there were some other places to park and ride scooters and bikes. https://slate.com/business/2018/04/astounding-photos-capture-graveyards-of-unused-dockless-vehicles-in-american-cities.html https://slate.com/business/2018/04/astounding-photos-capture... I'm sure we could find some, if we wanted to: https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2011/03/22/new-york-has-81875-metered-parking-spaces-and-millions-of-free-ones https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2011/03/22/new-york-has-81875-me...
- wild_preference 8y ago
  I tithe half my income to people in need and volunteer about 30 hours per week to the local soup kitchen (would do more but my free time is tied up in Darfur mission work) and I, too, hope NYC will keep the people you help out in mind as well.
  - neom 8y ago
    haaaaaaaahahaha. Ok, fair. I should have said at lease once a month (as that's true) or *often. Thankfully the soup kitchen to support missions in Darfur that I volunteer at 6 days a week only has a small flight of stairs I have to carry the elderly folks up.
kurthr 8y ago
Scooters are great, because you can ride them anywhere... on the street, in bike lanes, on the side walk, or across other people's lawns. I just found out you can even ride them the wrong way up a parking garage exit ramp spiral! /sarcasm> actually, I guess the scooters are fine, it's just the people paying $/15min feel entitled to do whatever, and there are no consequences. I've got more respect for those modding them into free rides and I don't live in Manhattan.
- paulie_a 8y ago
  Also red lights and stop signs become optional.
  - hamandcheese 8y ago
    This is true of bicyclists as well.
    - user111233 8y ago
      And cars. Also trucks. The pedestrian crossing near me has a warning sign stuck up by someone telling you to look behind you for trucks running red lights while turning.
- techsupporter 8y ago
  > it's just the people paying $/15min feel entitled to do whatever, and there are no consequences. As a frequent pedestrian (no bike, no scooter, just a pair of sneakers and an overweight gut) in a decent-sized city, I have this exact same sentiment about vehicle drivers. I'd even write the sentence: "It's just the people paying $/month/car payment feel entitled to do whatever, and there are no consequences." I'm almost run over crossing at legal crosswalks with the light indicating I can go, all across the city at least twice per week. "Dockless cars" are left in crosswalks, across sidewalks, in intersections when they don't have the light, and drivers disregard stop signs and red lights and yield signs on an almost daily basis. I think the problem is less the mode of transportation than the mentality of the person operating that equipment. Regardless, I've noticed a lot more hostility towards people who are riding bicycles and electric scooters than I ever hear against people who are piloting two ton bricks of smash-me-into-anchovy-paste steel in an unsafe manner.
torgian 8y ago
Pfft. Might work? Will work. If Shanghai and Beijing can operate on electric scooters, so can New York. Although I’d be more afraid in New York. People lack situational awareness there
- jmknoll 8y ago
  I’m not 100% sure, because I haven’t been to the US recently, but I think there’s a difference in terminology. The scooters in the article are talking about the little folding things that you stand on, right? Like Razor scooters from the 90’s but electric. These are basically non-existent in Chinese cities. The main form of transport here is electric motorbikes, which people sometimes call scooters.
  - sschueller 8y ago
    Just scooter it the wrong term. Lime, Bird etc. should call them what they are: Kick Scooter or Trottinette. We have dockless Electric Scooters[3] ("Vespa" style motorcycles that require a driving permit) here in Switzerland and we have Lime Trottinettes so it can get confusing if not using the right term. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_(motorcycle) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_(motorcycle) [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kick_scooter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kick_scooter [3] https://www.mobility.ch/en/how-it-works/rent-a-scooter/ https://www.mobility.ch/en/how-it-works/rent-a-scooter/
    - mercutio2 8y ago
      I have never heard either term used in the US. Language as actually practiced is messy, and has large regional variation. It’s generally the right marketing move to name something the way your customers will understand it, not the way a taxonomist would prefer. But I agree Lime/Bird should do a good job localizing, and not be lazy about naming in other markets!
charlieok 8y ago
Jump just landed in Denver a few days ago with dockless electric bikes. I've taken two rides so far. These blow scooters right out of the water. I can get exercise and extra speed by pedaling along with the motor. Their app passed the ride data to my iPhone's health app for activity tracking. Other bonuses come to mind. If it should run out of charge, it would be a heavy bike. People don't look as dorky on bikes. I don't get why people are angry about scooters, but these E-bikes are awesome and I'd much rather use them given the choice. I'd love to see E-bikes take over as the dominant way of getting around. P.S. Almost forgot to mention: that thing was fun! (No, I'm not affiliated with Jump/Uber).
- lostcolony 8y ago
  My wife and I purchased a pair of e-bikes (I haven't seen any for rent where we are except at bike shops, and I can bike to work which makes owning one make sense), and yeah, they are -insanely- fun. Even for exercise they're great; you can pedal without pedal assist...but hit a steep hill, or have to stop due to traffic, having a throttle to get you moving just makes everything so much smoother.
  - Qwertie 8y ago
    My fitness has improved so much since owning an ebike. Yeah it's not nearly as much work as using a regular bike but unless you are using a bike all the time you are going to see a massive improvement from switching from a car to an ebike.
- user111233 8y ago
  I own an ebike as well as a bunch of non ebikes and while I love riding regular bikes on the weekend, the ebike is just so useful for getting to work fast and sweat free. I live in a very hilly area and the ebike makes it like riding on flat ground.
- ConsumerLed 8y ago
  Electric bikes (e-bikes) are safer and more durable than scooters, BUT they cost way more (>5x I think) and take up more space. There are also the issues of changing seat height and dresses/long clothes getting caught in bikes. I'm based in London, where scooters are still banned, but tried Lime in Austin when it first launched. I found the digital experience incredible and I had a great time. But the small wheels on anything other than silky smooth surfaces makes trips uncomfortable and I did almost wipe out. Plus the brakes are not great and the battery performance deteriorates noticeably on longer trips. There is a place for scooters (small downtown areas) but I think that E-bikes make more sense and can use existing cycling infrastructure more easily. Excited by all these changes...
cletus 8y ago
So living in NYC for almost 8 years now I've become pretty anti-cyclist. Here's a short list of beefs that spring to mind: - Cyclists riding on sidewalks. Apart from delivery people, a cyclist should never ride on the sidewalk in Manhattan. Ever. If you find yourself riding on the sidewalk, just don't take the bike out. Bikes are for roads. The article even mentions how sidewalks are narrow. - Bike lanes (IMHO) have made traffic significantly worse because they're thoroughly underutilized and basically kill a lane of traffic (on the avenues at least). - The article also mentions how pedestrians spill over to the streets and bike lanes. Yep, that'll happen. Particularly if the city fills the sidewalk with more newsstands and allows businesses to spill out onto the sidewalk. There should be a rule that there can be no obstruction on an avenue of major street (think 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, 57th, 59th, etc) that reduces the clear space to anything less than ten feet. On other streets? 6-8 feet. - I generally find the delivery cyclists are fine. It's the commuters and tourists who need to be removed from the road. Why? Well tourists are just oblivious and will ride down a bike lane 3 abreast at 6 miles an hour. But the commuters are just plain assholes, as a whole group. Go see this for yourself on the Brooklyn Bridge. This is a place that at any reasonable time is going to be packed with tourists. And just count (it won't take long) how often you see a cyclist knock a pedestrian who has "dared" to spill over into the bike lane. Honestly, bikes should just be banned completely from the Brooklyn Bridge. - Cyclists will ride down bike lanes and streets the wrong way (yes bike lanes have directions) and run red lights and give you attitude if you're in the way as a pedestrian even though you have right of way. So am I excited about the prospect of scooters? Hell, no. I've been to SF and seen these littered all over the place. The sidewalks in Manhattan (in particular) are congested enough that we don't need scooters littered on them. At least Citibikes have to go into bays. But above all of this the biggest problems in NYC are the continued subsidization of car ownership. If it were up to me I would: - Eliminate all street parking - Loading zones only - Tax private car ownership for anyone living below 125th street. - Have congestion pricing (the article mentions this too). - Get rid of the stupid turn lanes (where pedestrians have to take turns with cars turning crossing the street so as a pedestrian you only get to cross 1/4 of the time instead of 1/2). But please just say no to scooters.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
hoorayimhelping 8y ago
Would have loved to have had a bird or a lime scooter when I got off the F and had to walk to Alphabet City in the 90 degree 100% humidity summer heat the other day. That hot 20 minute walk would have been a pleasant 10 minute scooter ride with a breeze.
roel_v 8y ago
In Amsterdam, scooter usage (not electric, just scooters in general) skyrocketed when a famous criminal was shown riding one in some pictures surrounding a heavily publicized case (meaning, these pictures were in the news for literally years on end). It's funny how some freak occurrence influences something that affects so many people. Maybe someone should pay today's equivalent of John Gotti to 'accidentally' get caught on photo riding one, see if it can be replicated...
- rapnie 8y ago
  You are of course referring to Willem Holleeder [0], involved in the kidnapping of Freddy Heineken, and these kinds of famous snapshots of him on a scooter [1]. I never knew this started the scooter trend, but I see that 'holleeder-scooter' has become an oft-used word to indicate the brand. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Holleeder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Holleeder [1] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=holleeder+scooter&t=fpas&iax=images&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=holleeder+scooter&t=fpas&iax=image...
mcgoooo 8y ago
I have one In London, and I've done 3000k on them, they are phenomenal. I would advise against the Xiaomi though, they break a lot, I invested in an inokim light 2 and it's solid. Regardless of the problems of them, it's definitely a transport solution.
- mrkipling 8y ago
  What's the reaction of other people like? I'm thinking of getting one.
- tonyedgecombe 8y ago
  Have you never had any attention from the police?

64 points by petethomas 8y ago

They would only be usable half the year because of whether. Also, have to consider that there are lots of people in NYC that will simply scrap the scooters for parts and spare change.

kawfey 8y ago
That happens in every venue where electric scooters and dockless bikes are. The company could care less, since they have millions to spend to propagate the brand in lieu of profits.

tomasmik 8y ago

We've had scooters and bikes that you can rent for quite a while now and its pretty cool

GoMonad 8y ago
In which city are you?

neonate 8y ago

http://archive.is/27LkO http://archive.is/27LkO

buckhx 8y ago

I bought a Xiaomi scooter in June and received it a few weeks ago. I live in Williamsburg and work in SoHo/Chinatown, and my commute is 15-20 mins compared to 25-30 on the subway (L -> NQR). I obey biking rules and only push if I am on a sidewalk. I haven't felt unsafe outside of riding at night in Brooklyn and not feeling visible enough. Overall it's been great, but can imagine it getting out of hand if they were readily available. For example, I was at the Farmers Market in Union Square last Weds a couple of people were riding powered scooters through the crowd clearly NGAF.

microdrum 8y ago
How dare you purchase a Xiaomi scooter! You have to rent them from Lime or Bird. Do you have any idea how many hours these companies spent in Excel designing their tight unit economics? Dozens!
- stirlo 8y ago
  These scooters are around $400, unless you're using them for a commute its quite a few rides to recoup the purchase cost. Then there's the ability to ride it one way and just leave it without worrying about having it stolen or damaged and losing your $400 investment.
  - microdrum 8y ago
    It's at most 6 months payback for the average commute at current prices.* And that's for a $400 scooter. Think Xiaomi can't get these things into U.S. ports for $300? Think again. Scooter share economics don't work. And now that cities are placing caps on vendors and scooter quantity, prices are going up. Which means payback period to owning the scooter goes down. This is a vale of tears. * What is the average payback period for purchasing a car (μ(p) = $30,000) versus taking the train? Much longer!
    - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
      Payback period is kind of a nebulous concept because you can't easily assign a cost to the trips forgone because they aren't worth taking when you're at the mercy of some 3rd party's pricing and/or schedule. The personal freedom you get from having a scooter and/or a car is hard to overstate.
torgian 8y ago
Pfft, GTFO. Kymko or go home
siruncledrew 8y ago
For the price, it makes much more sense to buy a scooter if someone is going to use a scooter as their daily commuter transportation. I checked the price of Bird (idk what the prices of Lime/Spin are), and it's $1 per ride plus $.15/min. For 2x20min commutes per day, that's $8/day to ride a scooter. A roundtrip on the subway would be 2x$2.75, so $5.50/day. Taken monthly, it's $160/mo to ride a scooter vs. $110/mo to ride the subway. A Xiaomi scooter is about $500 on Amazon, so the cost would be recouped in less than 5 months. Seems reasonable for those who would be "frequent riders" to just buy their own collapsible scooters and carry it with them into work.

neom 8y ago

Given at least once a week I have to help a blind person or a person in a wheel chair navigate an already challenging built environment. And frequently see someone on a bike-share wobbling the wrong way down a hectic Manhattan street into messenger bikes and yellow cabs, I hope the roll out is considered with these people in mind.

jseliger 8y ago
If only there were some other places to park and ride scooters and bikes. https://slate.com/business/2018/04/astounding-photos-capture-graveyards-of-unused-dockless-vehicles-in-american-cities.html https://slate.com/business/2018/04/astounding-photos-capture... I'm sure we could find some, if we wanted to: https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2011/03/22/new-york-has-81875-metered-parking-spaces-and-millions-of-free-ones https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2011/03/22/new-york-has-81875-me...
wild_preference 8y ago
I tithe half my income to people in need and volunteer about 30 hours per week to the local soup kitchen (would do more but my free time is tied up in Darfur mission work) and I, too, hope NYC will keep the people you help out in mind as well.
- neom 8y ago
  haaaaaaaahahaha. Ok, fair. I should have said at lease once a month (as that's true) or *often. Thankfully the soup kitchen to support missions in Darfur that I volunteer at 6 days a week only has a small flight of stairs I have to carry the elderly folks up.

kurthr 8y ago

Scooters are great, because you can ride them anywhere... on the street, in bike lanes, on the side walk, or across other people's lawns. I just found out you can even ride them the wrong way up a parking garage exit ramp spiral! /sarcasm> actually, I guess the scooters are fine, it's just the people paying $/15min feel entitled to do whatever, and there are no consequences. I've got more respect for those modding them into free rides and I don't live in Manhattan.

paulie_a 8y ago
Also red lights and stop signs become optional.
- hamandcheese 8y ago
  This is true of bicyclists as well.
  - user111233 8y ago
    And cars. Also trucks. The pedestrian crossing near me has a warning sign stuck up by someone telling you to look behind you for trucks running red lights while turning.
techsupporter 8y ago
> it's just the people paying $/15min feel entitled to do whatever, and there are no consequences. As a frequent pedestrian (no bike, no scooter, just a pair of sneakers and an overweight gut) in a decent-sized city, I have this exact same sentiment about vehicle drivers. I'd even write the sentence: "It's just the people paying $/month/car payment feel entitled to do whatever, and there are no consequences." I'm almost run over crossing at legal crosswalks with the light indicating I can go, all across the city at least twice per week. "Dockless cars" are left in crosswalks, across sidewalks, in intersections when they don't have the light, and drivers disregard stop signs and red lights and yield signs on an almost daily basis. I think the problem is less the mode of transportation than the mentality of the person operating that equipment. Regardless, I've noticed a lot more hostility towards people who are riding bicycles and electric scooters than I ever hear against people who are piloting two ton bricks of smash-me-into-anchovy-paste steel in an unsafe manner.

torgian 8y ago

Pfft. Might work? Will work. If Shanghai and Beijing can operate on electric scooters, so can New York. Although I’d be more afraid in New York. People lack situational awareness there

jmknoll 8y ago
I’m not 100% sure, because I haven’t been to the US recently, but I think there’s a difference in terminology. The scooters in the article are talking about the little folding things that you stand on, right? Like Razor scooters from the 90’s but electric. These are basically non-existent in Chinese cities. The main form of transport here is electric motorbikes, which people sometimes call scooters.
- sschueller 8y ago
  Just scooter it the wrong term. Lime, Bird etc. should call them what they are: Kick Scooter or Trottinette. We have dockless Electric Scooters[3] ("Vespa" style motorcycles that require a driving permit) here in Switzerland and we have Lime Trottinettes so it can get confusing if not using the right term. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_(motorcycle) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_(motorcycle) [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kick_scooter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kick_scooter [3] https://www.mobility.ch/en/how-it-works/rent-a-scooter/ https://www.mobility.ch/en/how-it-works/rent-a-scooter/
  - mercutio2 8y ago
    I have never heard either term used in the US. Language as actually practiced is messy, and has large regional variation. It’s generally the right marketing move to name something the way your customers will understand it, not the way a taxonomist would prefer. But I agree Lime/Bird should do a good job localizing, and not be lazy about naming in other markets!

charlieok 8y ago

Jump just landed in Denver a few days ago with dockless electric bikes. I've taken two rides so far. These blow scooters right out of the water. I can get exercise and extra speed by pedaling along with the motor. Their app passed the ride data to my iPhone's health app for activity tracking. Other bonuses come to mind. If it should run out of charge, it would be a heavy bike. People don't look as dorky on bikes. I don't get why people are angry about scooters, but these E-bikes are awesome and I'd much rather use them given the choice. I'd love to see E-bikes take over as the dominant way of getting around. P.S. Almost forgot to mention: that thing was fun! (No, I'm not affiliated with Jump/Uber).

lostcolony 8y ago
My wife and I purchased a pair of e-bikes (I haven't seen any for rent where we are except at bike shops, and I can bike to work which makes owning one make sense), and yeah, they are -insanely- fun. Even for exercise they're great; you can pedal without pedal assist...but hit a steep hill, or have to stop due to traffic, having a throttle to get you moving just makes everything so much smoother.
- Qwertie 8y ago
  My fitness has improved so much since owning an ebike. Yeah it's not nearly as much work as using a regular bike but unless you are using a bike all the time you are going to see a massive improvement from switching from a car to an ebike.
user111233 8y ago
I own an ebike as well as a bunch of non ebikes and while I love riding regular bikes on the weekend, the ebike is just so useful for getting to work fast and sweat free. I live in a very hilly area and the ebike makes it like riding on flat ground.
ConsumerLed 8y ago
Electric bikes (e-bikes) are safer and more durable than scooters, BUT they cost way more (>5x I think) and take up more space. There are also the issues of changing seat height and dresses/long clothes getting caught in bikes. I'm based in London, where scooters are still banned, but tried Lime in Austin when it first launched. I found the digital experience incredible and I had a great time. But the small wheels on anything other than silky smooth surfaces makes trips uncomfortable and I did almost wipe out. Plus the brakes are not great and the battery performance deteriorates noticeably on longer trips. There is a place for scooters (small downtown areas) but I think that E-bikes make more sense and can use existing cycling infrastructure more easily. Excited by all these changes...

cletus 8y ago

So living in NYC for almost 8 years now I've become pretty anti-cyclist. Here's a short list of beefs that spring to mind: - Cyclists riding on sidewalks. Apart from delivery people, a cyclist should never ride on the sidewalk in Manhattan. Ever. If you find yourself riding on the sidewalk, just don't take the bike out. Bikes are for roads. The article even mentions how sidewalks are narrow. - Bike lanes (IMHO) have made traffic significantly worse because they're thoroughly underutilized and basically kill a lane of traffic (on the avenues at least). - The article also mentions how pedestrians spill over to the streets and bike lanes. Yep, that'll happen. Particularly if the city fills the sidewalk with more newsstands and allows businesses to spill out onto the sidewalk. There should be a rule that there can be no obstruction on an avenue of major street (think 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, 57th, 59th, etc) that reduces the clear space to anything less than ten feet. On other streets? 6-8 feet. - I generally find the delivery cyclists are fine. It's the commuters and tourists who need to be removed from the road. Why? Well tourists are just oblivious and will ride down a bike lane 3 abreast at 6 miles an hour. But the commuters are just plain assholes, as a whole group. Go see this for yourself on the Brooklyn Bridge. This is a place that at any reasonable time is going to be packed with tourists. And just count (it won't take long) how often you see a cyclist knock a pedestrian who has "dared" to spill over into the bike lane. Honestly, bikes should just be banned completely from the Brooklyn Bridge. - Cyclists will ride down bike lanes and streets the wrong way (yes bike lanes have directions) and run red lights and give you attitude if you're in the way as a pedestrian even though you have right of way. So am I excited about the prospect of scooters? Hell, no. I've been to SF and seen these littered all over the place. The sidewalks in Manhattan (in particular) are congested enough that we don't need scooters littered on them. At least Citibikes have to go into bays. But above all of this the biggest problems in NYC are the continued subsidization of car ownership. If it were up to me I would: - Eliminate all street parking - Loading zones only - Tax private car ownership for anyone living below 125th street. - Have congestion pricing (the article mentions this too). - Get rid of the stupid turn lanes (where pedestrians have to take turns with cars turning crossing the street so as a pedestrian you only get to cross 1/4 of the time instead of 1/2). But please just say no to scooters.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

hoorayimhelping 8y ago

Would have loved to have had a bird or a lime scooter when I got off the F and had to walk to Alphabet City in the 90 degree 100% humidity summer heat the other day. That hot 20 minute walk would have been a pleasant 10 minute scooter ride with a breeze.

roel_v 8y ago

In Amsterdam, scooter usage (not electric, just scooters in general) skyrocketed when a famous criminal was shown riding one in some pictures surrounding a heavily publicized case (meaning, these pictures were in the news for literally years on end). It's funny how some freak occurrence influences something that affects so many people. Maybe someone should pay today's equivalent of John Gotti to 'accidentally' get caught on photo riding one, see if it can be replicated...

rapnie 8y ago
You are of course referring to Willem Holleeder [0], involved in the kidnapping of Freddy Heineken, and these kinds of famous snapshots of him on a scooter [1]. I never knew this started the scooter trend, but I see that 'holleeder-scooter' has become an oft-used word to indicate the brand. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Holleeder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Holleeder [1] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=holleeder+scooter&t=fpas&iax=images&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=holleeder+scooter&t=fpas&iax=image...

mcgoooo 8y ago

I have one In London, and I've done 3000k on them, they are phenomenal. I would advise against the Xiaomi though, they break a lot, I invested in an inokim light 2 and it's solid. Regardless of the problems of them, it's definitely a transport solution.

mrkipling 8y ago
What's the reaction of other people like? I'm thinking of getting one.
tonyedgecombe 8y ago
Have you never had any attention from the police?