4 ms·

Once said that the "too high fines" sounds like an excuse, I am not sure to understand the logic of the fines (i.e. the attributing them at least partially to t

by jaclaz 4y ago

Once said that the "too high fines" sounds like an excuse, I am not sure to understand the logic of the fines (i.e. the attributing them at least partially to the company). When you rent a car, the driver/renter pays all fines during the rent period, except maybe those related to the car itself not being fit for street use. Why is this different for these scooters?

bagels 4y ago
Are they referring to the fines from littering their scooters all over town?
- jaclaz 4y ago
  I could understand somehow those (though there must be anyway some method to make the user "responsible" of the bad parking). No idea how it would be achievable it is entirely possible that the user parked the thing correctly but a kid passing by moved it later. Many years ago in Paris (France) there were normal (actually terribly heavy) bikes for rent that had dedicated stands, you unlocked them with a card or similar, and you had to return them and lock them to another stand, otherwise you kept paying the rent (it was far from perfect, but at least created not this kind of problem). But I was talking more about the US$ 500 one for driving on the sidewalk: >And scooting on a San Francisco sidewalk instead of in a bike lane or road can earn a fine of $500, even if there’s no bike lane available. That fine is split between the scooter company and the scooter rider. That one should be all on the rider, shouldn't it?
roughly 4y ago
The driver of a rented car pays things like speeding tickets, yes, but if they abandon the car in the middle of the road, the rental company is expected to retrieve it and will be fined if they don't. Same deal here.
kube-system 4y ago
The most obvious difference is that scooters companies typically do not provide a place to park their vehicles between rentals, whereas all car rentals do... even Zipcar.
Zak 4y ago
The scooter return process typically involves taking a picture of where the scooter is parked. If it gets a parking ticket and the picture shows that the renter parked it illegally, I imagine the fine does get passed along to the renter. Unlike cars, it's very easy for vandals to move a scooter without renting it, e.g. by picking it up. I've seen scooters thrown into bodies of water and inside fenced areas. Most jurisdictions require the owners to remove them from such locations in a timely manner.
mrighele 4y ago
When you rent a car any fine is notified to the rental company which then forwards it to you.They can do this because there is paper that you signed that says that at that time you were driving. In the case of a scooter there is just a row on a db, I don’t know if that is enough to shift responsibilities, thought if they wanted they could address it (for example I remember that in one place users are required to take a photo of the scooter before leaving it) but part of the appeal is that you can just leave the scooter anywhere as soon as you reach your destination
- jaclaz 4y ago
  Yes, but - see below - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34848478 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34848478 I was thinking not so much of the parking fines, but rather of the driving ones that reportedly are "split". The scooters don't have a registration plate, so the Police (or whomever issues the fine) has to stop the rider (or not?) then: 1) if the rider is stopped and fined, how/why is the fine split with the company? 2) if the rider is not stopped and the fine goes generically to the company, same question, if the rider can be identified in order to split the fine, why can he/she not be made to pay the whole fine?

by jaclaz 4y ago

bagels 4y ago

Are they referring to the fines from littering their scooters all over town?

jaclaz 4y ago
I could understand somehow those (though there must be anyway some method to make the user "responsible" of the bad parking). No idea how it would be achievable it is entirely possible that the user parked the thing correctly but a kid passing by moved it later. Many years ago in Paris (France) there were normal (actually terribly heavy) bikes for rent that had dedicated stands, you unlocked them with a card or similar, and you had to return them and lock them to another stand, otherwise you kept paying the rent (it was far from perfect, but at least created not this kind of problem). But I was talking more about the US$ 500 one for driving on the sidewalk: >And scooting on a San Francisco sidewalk instead of in a bike lane or road can earn a fine of $500, even if there’s no bike lane available. That fine is split between the scooter company and the scooter rider. That one should be all on the rider, shouldn't it?

roughly 4y ago

The driver of a rented car pays things like speeding tickets, yes, but if they abandon the car in the middle of the road, the rental company is expected to retrieve it and will be fined if they don't. Same deal here.

kube-system 4y ago

The most obvious difference is that scooters companies typically do not provide a place to park their vehicles between rentals, whereas all car rentals do... even Zipcar.

Zak 4y ago

The scooter return process typically involves taking a picture of where the scooter is parked. If it gets a parking ticket and the picture shows that the renter parked it illegally, I imagine the fine does get passed along to the renter. Unlike cars, it's very easy for vandals to move a scooter without renting it, e.g. by picking it up. I've seen scooters thrown into bodies of water and inside fenced areas. Most jurisdictions require the owners to remove them from such locations in a timely manner.

mrighele 4y ago

When you rent a car any fine is notified to the rental company which then forwards it to you.They can do this because there is paper that you signed that says that at that time you were driving. In the case of a scooter there is just a row on a db, I don’t know if that is enough to shift responsibilities, thought if they wanted they could address it (for example I remember that in one place users are required to take a photo of the scooter before leaving it) but part of the appeal is that you can just leave the scooter anywhere as soon as you reach your destination

jaclaz 4y ago
Yes, but - see below - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34848478 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34848478 I was thinking not so much of the parking fines, but rather of the driving ones that reportedly are "split". The scooters don't have a registration plate, so the Police (or whomever issues the fine) has to stop the rider (or not?) then: 1) if the rider is stopped and fined, how/why is the fine split with the company? 2) if the rider is not stopped and the fine goes generically to the company, same question, if the rider can be identified in order to split the fine, why can he/she not be made to pay the whole fine?