3 ms·

I disagree wholeheartedly. Electric scooters are fun and useful, especially for commuting in the morning from a drop off location like a train station. The real

I disagree wholeheartedly. Electric scooters are fun and useful, especially for commuting in the morning from a drop off location like a train station. The real question is whether or not it can be profitable, which I highly doubt. I would rather just get my own if I needed it.

neaden 6y ago
I think scooters are very area dependent. Both because of weather, and the supporting infrastructure.
mcculley 6y ago
I live in downtown Orlando. Lime, Lynx, and Bird have littered downtown with scooters. I run almost every day and they are often left directly in the middle of the sidewalk, either upright or fallen over. A couple months ago I began relocating any rental equipment I find in my way on the sidewalk. I am not at all gentle about this and I'm sure I have damaged some of the equipment. I like the idea that people might use these more than cars, but investors need to figure out a better way to store them than in the sidewalk.
- ac29 6y ago
  I get the anger about sidewalks getting littered with scooters, but damaging or destroying them is just creating more hazardous e-waste to be disposed of.
  - mcculley 6y ago
    Where do you live? Maybe I can put them in front of your house.
  - mcculley 6y ago
    I'm not really angry. I consider it a public service for the people who come along after me. These things are a hazard for runners.
  - jmchuster 6y ago
    Tell that to the homeless guy in SF who made it his life mission to push scooters into the bay. They even had to make a line item just for him.
  - heavyset_go 6y ago
    There needs to be a more sustainable model for scooter rentals than "when the scooter breaks, we just throw it out and replace it with another $20 white label scooter from China" The reason they're treated like trash, by both the company that put them there and by pedestrians, is because that is what they are.
three_seagrass 6y ago
True, but that still makes them a market fad. Even if you got cities on board, the costs are fairly fixed, so while the scooters are fun, it was never a feasible business at scale.
gerash 6y ago
The problem with electric scooters is even though they're nice in urban areas, they're a best-effort service. You can't rely on them to be somewhere by a specific time as they could either be unavailable around you, too far or the one you end up walking to could happen to be broken. I think the rental bikes which have a fixed docking station are a better design.

neaden 6y ago

I think scooters are very area dependent. Both because of weather, and the supporting infrastructure.

mcculley 6y ago

I live in downtown Orlando. Lime, Lynx, and Bird have littered downtown with scooters. I run almost every day and they are often left directly in the middle of the sidewalk, either upright or fallen over. A couple months ago I began relocating any rental equipment I find in my way on the sidewalk. I am not at all gentle about this and I'm sure I have damaged some of the equipment. I like the idea that people might use these more than cars, but investors need to figure out a better way to store them than in the sidewalk.

ac29 6y ago
I get the anger about sidewalks getting littered with scooters, but damaging or destroying them is just creating more hazardous e-waste to be disposed of.
- mcculley 6y ago
  Where do you live? Maybe I can put them in front of your house.
- mcculley 6y ago
  I'm not really angry. I consider it a public service for the people who come along after me. These things are a hazard for runners.
- jmchuster 6y ago
  Tell that to the homeless guy in SF who made it his life mission to push scooters into the bay. They even had to make a line item just for him.
- heavyset_go 6y ago
  There needs to be a more sustainable model for scooter rentals than "when the scooter breaks, we just throw it out and replace it with another $20 white label scooter from China" The reason they're treated like trash, by both the company that put them there and by pedestrians, is because that is what they are.

three_seagrass 6y ago

True, but that still makes them a market fad. Even if you got cities on board, the costs are fairly fixed, so while the scooters are fun, it was never a feasible business at scale.

gerash 6y ago

The problem with electric scooters is even though they're nice in urban areas, they're a best-effort service. You can't rely on them to be somewhere by a specific time as they could either be unavailable around you, too far or the one you end up walking to could happen to be broken. I think the rental bikes which have a fixed docking station are a better design.