31 ms·

> “The real impact comes largely from two areas: using other vehicles to collect and redistribute the scooters; and emissions related to producing the materials

by yholio 7y ago

> “The real impact comes largely from two areas: using other vehicles to collect and redistribute the scooters; and emissions related to producing the materials and components that go into each scooter.” I think the first point can be drastically improved using city-wide electric docking for scooters and encouraging users, via pricing, to leave them in such points. Large vehicles will then be used to reshuffle scooters only to compensate for assymetric demand, much less important than charging. The materials point can be improved by increasing reliability of the platform and mass recycling. Price competition and proper carbon and pollution taxing can optimize this automatically.

lm28469 7y ago
My dream would be an organized network of city sponsored docked electric scooters/bikes that would be accessible through already existing public transportation subscriptions. But instead of that we have 10 different companies flooding cities with thousands of vehicles knowing very well they will never ever be profitable until there is only 1 left and they can finally increase their price. Cities could even offer proper employment status and salary to the people taking care of the fleet instead of the current less than ideal reward system.
- yholio 7y ago
  What makes you think city run scooters would be so much more effective? I agree payment should be standardized and unified. But competition is a strong motive for innovation. For example, it could push providers to increase the range, safety and reliability, we could have self driving scooters that slowly go to the charging locations by themselves.
  - lm28469 7y ago
    > What makes you think city run scooters would be so much more effective? No race to the bottom, no barely legal practices (through loopholes), stable prices, cheaper (or included in existing subscriptions), proper docks respecting the public space, local money not going to foreign companies which have a tendency to do everything to avoid paying their taxes, &c. > For example, it could push providers to increase the range, safety and reliability It's a scooter, 2 wheels, brakes, a few lights, boom done. Let the scooter manufacturers do the """innovation""", the company operating them doesn't have to create them. If they cared about safety they would have found a system to attach an helmet on the damn thing, which would probably take care of the majority of major injuries. > we could have self driving scooters that slowly go to the charging locations by themselves. I don't see that happening for so many reasons that I honestly fail to understand how someone could come up with that idea.
    - yholio 7y ago
      Self driving a 10Kg electric scooter on a dedicated lane to a nearby charging spot seems an orders of magnitude simpler problem than self driving 2 ton car in heavy traffic with people on board.
- 9HZZRfNlpR 7y ago
  Probably you talk about America but quite a lot of cities in Europe are doing it. Instead of dropping your bike randomly, the city is covered with connection points where you leave the machine. Like docks, where it locks and charges. Since you can't let every company build their own hubs everywhere randomly, it's city ran business. Where I currently live it's covered if you have a monthly card for public transportation but you can buy or pay separately too, just more expensive.
  - lm28469 7y ago
    Which city is that? I'm in Berlin and it's complete chaos, even more than usual since they introduced scooters a few months ago. We have at least 5 bicycle companies and 4 scooter ones. https://imgur.com/a/diAmFH9 https://imgur.com/a/diAmFH9
    - 9HZZRfNlpR 7y ago
      Tartu in Estonia has one: https://visittartu.com/bike-share-system https://visittartu.com/bike-share-system 70 stations for around 100k city with a lot of dedicated bicycle tracks is well covered. I also know that at least they are building something similar in Riga and some other eastern cities have them. Which is a bit surprising, would have guessed countries with less snow and stronger bicycle culture are gonna build these things first.

by yholio 7y ago

lm28469 7y ago

My dream would be an organized network of city sponsored docked electric scooters/bikes that would be accessible through already existing public transportation subscriptions. But instead of that we have 10 different companies flooding cities with thousands of vehicles knowing very well they will never ever be profitable until there is only 1 left and they can finally increase their price. Cities could even offer proper employment status and salary to the people taking care of the fleet instead of the current less than ideal reward system.

yholio 7y ago
What makes you think city run scooters would be so much more effective? I agree payment should be standardized and unified. But competition is a strong motive for innovation. For example, it could push providers to increase the range, safety and reliability, we could have self driving scooters that slowly go to the charging locations by themselves.
- lm28469 7y ago
  > What makes you think city run scooters would be so much more effective? No race to the bottom, no barely legal practices (through loopholes), stable prices, cheaper (or included in existing subscriptions), proper docks respecting the public space, local money not going to foreign companies which have a tendency to do everything to avoid paying their taxes, &c. > For example, it could push providers to increase the range, safety and reliability It's a scooter, 2 wheels, brakes, a few lights, boom done. Let the scooter manufacturers do the """innovation""", the company operating them doesn't have to create them. If they cared about safety they would have found a system to attach an helmet on the damn thing, which would probably take care of the majority of major injuries. > we could have self driving scooters that slowly go to the charging locations by themselves. I don't see that happening for so many reasons that I honestly fail to understand how someone could come up with that idea.
  - yholio 7y ago
    Self driving a 10Kg electric scooter on a dedicated lane to a nearby charging spot seems an orders of magnitude simpler problem than self driving 2 ton car in heavy traffic with people on board.
9HZZRfNlpR 7y ago
Probably you talk about America but quite a lot of cities in Europe are doing it. Instead of dropping your bike randomly, the city is covered with connection points where you leave the machine. Like docks, where it locks and charges. Since you can't let every company build their own hubs everywhere randomly, it's city ran business. Where I currently live it's covered if you have a monthly card for public transportation but you can buy or pay separately too, just more expensive.
- lm28469 7y ago
  Which city is that? I'm in Berlin and it's complete chaos, even more than usual since they introduced scooters a few months ago. We have at least 5 bicycle companies and 4 scooter ones. https://imgur.com/a/diAmFH9 https://imgur.com/a/diAmFH9
  - 9HZZRfNlpR 7y ago
    Tartu in Estonia has one: https://visittartu.com/bike-share-system https://visittartu.com/bike-share-system 70 stations for around 100k city with a lot of dedicated bicycle tracks is well covered. I also know that at least they are building something similar in Riga and some other eastern cities have them. Which is a bit surprising, would have guessed countries with less snow and stronger bicycle culture are gonna build these things first.