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There’s always someone who’s going to tell you how something is not as green as you may think. Maybe we should just forget about global warming for a little bi

There’s always someone who’s going to tell you how something is not as green as you may think. Maybe we should just forget about global warming for a little bit and try to remember how dirty the air is from gas vehicles. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/09/21/las-dirty-air-violated-federal-smog-standards-for-almost-3-months/ https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/09/21/las-dirty-air-vio...

clairity 7y ago
ownership is one way to bypass half the emissions issue (of cars having to pick up and drop off rental scooters) as well as the associated shortened-life issue. i own one of the xiaomi scooters initially deployed by bird and mentioned in the article, and for little round-trip errands, it's hard to beat the convenience. you can ride literally door-to-door, without even looking for parking, since you can bring it right into most businesses (even bikes don't have that convenience in most cases).
- zeckalpha 7y ago
  Curiously, that’s the opposite of what they say about cars
- IshKebab 7y ago
  To be fair it's not hard to find somewhere to park a bike, even when cities don't invest in proper stands. You can just use lampposts and street signs.
hdfbdtbcdg 7y ago
Fine but the scooters are mainly replacing journeys on foot and cycle not car...
NohatCoder 7y ago
I think this article is pretty fair. Some serious problems need to be solved for these scooters to be green, but it does seem like a very real possibility that they could be solved.
bsder 7y ago
> Maybe we should just forget about global warming for a little bit and try to remember how dirty the air is from gas vehicles. Scooters aren't displacing cars--it's bikes and walking that scooters are replacing. And, relative to those, scooters are a big loser. The interesting part is the fact that scooters look like a loser relative to buses and mopeds. In particular, losing relative to a moped is quite surprising. I would also point out that generally when I see scooters being picked up, the pickup truck being used is generally pretty old--meaning that it is contributing a not small amount to air pollution.
- IshKebab 7y ago
  They are displacing cars. In the article it says that ⅓ of people who took one would otherwise have used a car.

clairity 7y ago

ownership is one way to bypass half the emissions issue (of cars having to pick up and drop off rental scooters) as well as the associated shortened-life issue. i own one of the xiaomi scooters initially deployed by bird and mentioned in the article, and for little round-trip errands, it's hard to beat the convenience. you can ride literally door-to-door, without even looking for parking, since you can bring it right into most businesses (even bikes don't have that convenience in most cases).

zeckalpha 7y ago
Curiously, that’s the opposite of what they say about cars
IshKebab 7y ago
To be fair it's not hard to find somewhere to park a bike, even when cities don't invest in proper stands. You can just use lampposts and street signs.

hdfbdtbcdg 7y ago

Fine but the scooters are mainly replacing journeys on foot and cycle not car...

NohatCoder 7y ago

I think this article is pretty fair. Some serious problems need to be solved for these scooters to be green, but it does seem like a very real possibility that they could be solved.

bsder 7y ago

> Maybe we should just forget about global warming for a little bit and try to remember how dirty the air is from gas vehicles. Scooters aren't displacing cars--it's bikes and walking that scooters are replacing. And, relative to those, scooters are a big loser. The interesting part is the fact that scooters look like a loser relative to buses and mopeds. In particular, losing relative to a moped is quite surprising. I would also point out that generally when I see scooters being picked up, the pickup truck being used is generally pretty old--meaning that it is contributing a not small amount to air pollution.

IshKebab 7y ago
They are displacing cars. In the article it says that ⅓ of people who took one would otherwise have used a car.