4 ms·
SF resident here. The on-demand scooter rentals model needs more thought. The scooters are often broken, not charged, under powered or unsafe (unless you bring
by nzoschke 4y ago
SF resident here.
The on-demand scooter rentals model needs more thought. The scooters are often broken, not charged, under powered or unsafe (unless you bring your own helmet) to get around. Ppl leave them blocking sidewalks and etc.
Best thing I ever did was buy my own ebike. Battery powered personal vehicles are the answer, and ownership pays off quickly compared to Ubers and parking and rentals.
I hope the city bike rollout keeps going. Keep adding bikes and hubs everywhere and lower the price of rentals. Having stations to park and charge and pick up bikes everywhere is better than the free for all of Bird imho.
- throw__away7391 4y agoI much prefer my own scooter, however the rideshare model has a single absolutely massive advantage over private ownership: once you get where you're going you don't need to worry about it getting stolen. I have the best lock I could find and glued an Apple AirTag to the inside, but still whenever I go to dinner on my scooter I spend 5 minutes trying to find a place to park it and convince the restaurant staff to give me a seat where I can see it (although some very nice people will sometimes let me fold it up and store it inside the restaurant behind the front desk or something), then spend the entire time worried about it getting jacked while I'm eating. I tend to visit only restaurants with sidewalk dining as a result, and I often take a car instead for anything like shopping where monitoring it isn't possible. Wide availability of secure parking infrastructure (or maybe even law enforcement attempting to do something about theft in the first place) would go a long way toward making private e-vehicles viable transport IMO.