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The concept of scooters is indeed great, but two (fixable) problems the article touched on were real: the mess it creates on sidewalks, and the charging jobs no
by virtuous_signal 7y ago
The concept of scooters is indeed great, but two (fixable) problems the article touched on were real: the mess it creates on sidewalks, and the charging jobs not being "good enough". The first has been addressed in other cities by requiring scooters to be dropped off in certain geographical locations. The second is debatable as a problem. Driving-around-charging-scooters is an entirely new class of jobs; it (probably) didn't displace other kinds of jobs; and people could choose other industries until Lime were forced to offer higher wages.
- spamizbad 7y agoTo me it's just completely unfair how little time we're requiring these scooter programs to get things "right". The automobile has been a scourge on cities for generations and we've allowed this as long as they're willing to show incremental improvements. Scooters are like 70% of the way there; in a few years they'll have it sorted.
- Nasrudith 7y agoTo be fair there are some substantial differences - cars brought some majorly new things to the table. Scooters aren't new nor are the many niches filled - community bike shares cover many but not all of the niches (the sweat factor). Even if they are being judged unduly harsh they bring lesser benefits to the table.
- SpicyLemonZest 7y agoIf people are using scooters a lot, doesn't that by itself demonstrate that they do fill many niches?