4 ms·

The Mobility Scooter craze. South Park nailed it. One day there were a couple scooters and you went oh interesting. A moth later there were thousands clogging e

The Mobility Scooter craze. South Park nailed it. One day there were a couple scooters and you went oh interesting. A moth later there were thousands clogging every sidewalk with no discernible method of managing these devices. Then just like they came they were gone. How many billions spent? How much e-waste was generated?

lopis 4y ago
I think we're well past the craze curve. I see way less scooters nowadays. Somewhere there is a mile high mountain of old scooters.
FeistySkink 4y ago
Unfortunately it's still a thing almost everywhere in EU.
- LeonM 4y ago
  Unfortunately, the EU country I live in does not allow them. And that is unfortunate, because whenever I visit another EU country I find them very useful.
  - alistairSH 4y ago
    I doubt many people would argue against their usefulness. The problem is management of the scooters when not in use. Even out in the suburbs, the local sidewalks have them discarded haphazardly. Not in a charging stand, not in a group, just ad hoc lying across the sidewalk. The bike share has dedicated stands for groups of 10-20 bikes - this makes far more sense to me than users just dropping them in the sidewalk or street when they're done riding. If you're an older pedestrian, or otherwise mobility challenged (but able to walk), they're a nightmare.
    - ericpauley 4y ago
      This feels like largely an issue of societal norms. People leave their cars sitting all over the place and nobody complains. For sure there are places they shouldn’t be left, like right in the middle of the sidewalk. But maybe the expectation of every scooter being in a dock is too extreme.
      - alistairSH 4y ago
        People don't generally park their cars in yards, across sidewalks, or in the woods. All places I've come across electric push scooters. Sure, cars are ubiquitous, but people mostly park them in designated parking spaces (also ubiquitous) or risk a parking ticket, boot, or tow. DC adopted a parking zone strategy for the scooters. Haven't been downtown in a while, but imagine that could work without dedicated docks.
      - DangitBobby 4y ago
        IDK, it's pretty much a social norm to put away your shopping cart, and yet... People are selfish and will do anti social shit for convenience if they can get away with it. Cars only go where they belong because the state can and will punish you with towing or fines, making the reward of being selfish and anti social not worth the risk.
    - unsupp0rted 4y ago
      It's moot to me because I find the 0.0001% of space around me taken up by electric scooters vs the 99.9999% of space around me taken up by cars to be more egregious.
jollyllama 4y ago
Mobility scooters are the things disabled people ride. There should be a term to refer to these electric, Razor-style form factor scooters, but I think they are just pushing the Vespa-style scooters (many of which are also electric) into the term moped and taking the term "scooter" for themselves. I call them kid scooters.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- pavon 4y ago
  I've always seen the terms kick-scooter and motor-scooter to disambiguate the later two.
ausbah 4y ago
they are still very prevalent in seattle. not as much of an issue so long as ppl stick to empty sidewalks and bike lanes
kirse 4y ago
IMO central-city cores need to get redesigned around Bio/EV-only transport like walking, bikes, scooters, etc. You drive up to various parking-only rings where there is boatloads of parking and EV-transport docking stations and then walking/bikes/EVs get you last-mile accessibility to buildings, shops, etc. Scooters do annoy me at times as a pedestrian but its mainly b/c city infra wasn't really designed for this middle ground, as cyclists can attest. Plus I am equally as hypocritical for sometimes zipping around on a scooter on sidewalks, so I don't complain too much. If I ever get a shot at building up a town/city this is one of my reqs.

lopis 4y ago

I think we're well past the craze curve. I see way less scooters nowadays. Somewhere there is a mile high mountain of old scooters.

FeistySkink 4y ago

Unfortunately it's still a thing almost everywhere in EU.

LeonM 4y ago
Unfortunately, the EU country I live in does not allow them. And that is unfortunate, because whenever I visit another EU country I find them very useful.
- alistairSH 4y ago
  I doubt many people would argue against their usefulness. The problem is management of the scooters when not in use. Even out in the suburbs, the local sidewalks have them discarded haphazardly. Not in a charging stand, not in a group, just ad hoc lying across the sidewalk. The bike share has dedicated stands for groups of 10-20 bikes - this makes far more sense to me than users just dropping them in the sidewalk or street when they're done riding. If you're an older pedestrian, or otherwise mobility challenged (but able to walk), they're a nightmare.
  - ericpauley 4y ago
    This feels like largely an issue of societal norms. People leave their cars sitting all over the place and nobody complains. For sure there are places they shouldn’t be left, like right in the middle of the sidewalk. But maybe the expectation of every scooter being in a dock is too extreme.
    - alistairSH 4y ago
      People don't generally park their cars in yards, across sidewalks, or in the woods. All places I've come across electric push scooters. Sure, cars are ubiquitous, but people mostly park them in designated parking spaces (also ubiquitous) or risk a parking ticket, boot, or tow. DC adopted a parking zone strategy for the scooters. Haven't been downtown in a while, but imagine that could work without dedicated docks.
    - DangitBobby 4y ago
      IDK, it's pretty much a social norm to put away your shopping cart, and yet... People are selfish and will do anti social shit for convenience if they can get away with it. Cars only go where they belong because the state can and will punish you with towing or fines, making the reward of being selfish and anti social not worth the risk.
  - unsupp0rted 4y ago
    It's moot to me because I find the 0.0001% of space around me taken up by electric scooters vs the 99.9999% of space around me taken up by cars to be more egregious.

jollyllama 4y ago

Mobility scooters are the things disabled people ride. There should be a term to refer to these electric, Razor-style form factor scooters, but I think they are just pushing the Vespa-style scooters (many of which are also electric) into the term moped and taking the term "scooter" for themselves. I call them kid scooters.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
pavon 4y ago
I've always seen the terms kick-scooter and motor-scooter to disambiguate the later two.

ausbah 4y ago

they are still very prevalent in seattle. not as much of an issue so long as ppl stick to empty sidewalks and bike lanes

kirse 4y ago

IMO central-city cores need to get redesigned around Bio/EV-only transport like walking, bikes, scooters, etc. You drive up to various parking-only rings where there is boatloads of parking and EV-transport docking stations and then walking/bikes/EVs get you last-mile accessibility to buildings, shops, etc. Scooters do annoy me at times as a pedestrian but its mainly b/c city infra wasn't really designed for this middle ground, as cyclists can attest. Plus I am equally as hypocritical for sometimes zipping around on a scooter on sidewalks, so I don't complain too much. If I ever get a shot at building up a town/city this is one of my reqs.