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> Working on going independent here in Denver, acting as a 'broker' between businesses and their staff/customers to convert single-occupancy-vehicle-users to sc

> Working on going independent here in Denver, acting as a 'broker' between businesses and their staff/customers to convert single-occupancy-vehicle-users to scooters, to increase the functional number of parking spaces in a given parking lot by 10% or more. How do you make money doing this? I also don't see how you really achieve this as a business. The best way to do this would imo run for city council with the backing of developers, remove zoning, and then implement road improvements. Most cities have parking requirements for cars, so they legally can't remove paring spaces. This needs to change at a legal level.

inconceivable 4y ago
you sell the scooters and get a commission for the people re-doing the parking lots. the customer company is incentivized by green initiatives and they have budgets to spend.
- wonder_er 4y ago
  Critically, no re-doing of the parking required. It'll just be adding scooter parking spots in existing nooks and crannys around the building/parking lot. Company is incentivized by adding available vehicle parking spots. Sportique scooters, the local scooter dealer to Denver, is down and happy to offer me some commission for scooter sales that I bring in, but that's not the main thing for me. I want corporate buy-in from the companies I'm courting, cuz I'll need their permission to access staff and customers. (I'll be adding signage, and the companies will make some concession to scooter riders, to make it a bit more appealing. A free drink, $20/mo in free food, etc. It'll be a case-by-case decision, based on what they can offer that's easiest/most useful to the customer, etc) Scooters are super cheap, and let you move through a city way fast, and can be parked nearly anywhere, regardless of how busy the area is, and it's literally $6 for a tank of gas. And they get 100 mpg. I think a little progress will lead to a lot of progress.
wonder_er 4y ago
How to make money: Offer this as a service to a business. The service (which I'm charging for, but don't yet have customers) is: 1. Paint some scooter parking lines in a reasonable spot, and add a signage explaining why the org wants to incentivize scooter usage. 2. The scooter parking would make use of existing nooks and crannys in the parking lot, so it wouldn't take away existing car parking. 3. Work with the staff to find the staff that lives relatively close to the business, and is amenable to scooting. Teach and train and hand-hold through their scooter purchase, so when they're working, their scooter is parked outside. 4. Once there's staff using scooters regularly, there will nearly always be a scooter or two parked outside the building, which will start to normalize scooter usage for customers 5. Hand-hold early adapting customers through the same process. 6. Add signage and website and email campaigns to let interested customers learn more about the whole thing. Done. Every time there is a scooter parked in front of a business, that's a car parking spot freed up. Keep refining the process until during busy hours, there is a number of scooters in front of the business equal to ten percent of the number of parking spots. I won't be removing any parking. Only creating new parking, and helping more people start scooting. I ran for city council in golden, Colorado, a few years ago, and saw far too much of how the sausage is made. City councils have no power, by design. They exist to absorb the ire of angry citizens, and to insulate the city staff from the effects of their decisions. There is no world where city council is helpful. They're a lagging indicator of the social norms of middle and upper class white people. The legal changes will lag social changes, so it's not helpful to directly target legal changes.
- dharmab 4y ago
  I bet Revzilla's magazine would love to write about this if its successful.
  - readonthegoapp 4y ago
    revzilla, like revzilla.com, the motorcycle store, or magazine, as you say? saw a dude yest cruising around on some type of etrike - i liked it, and i think the main reason was because it didn't seem as ugly and wide and low-quality as a typical non-e-trike. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ prob one of these types, i would guess: https://www.google.com/search?q=GRANDTAN+M-340+Etrike+2023&newwindow=1&rlz=1C1GEWG_enUS1045US1045&sxsrf=APwXEdfV_AfKUKVFs7k2hje4G5tPBiTMSg:1680308574972&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiqh-WdtYf-AhUMMVkFHVIqCy8Q0pQJegQIBRAE&biw=1120&bih=596&dpr=2 https://www.google.com/search?q=GRANDTAN+M-340+Etrike+2023&n... i could see etrikes becoming a thing for older americans, and that matters because they have a ton of political power, relatively speaking. i figure, all the hype around ebikes is great, but largely useless. all that really matters is infrastructure/policy -- i.e. bike tracks, bike sidewalks, cycletracks, protected bike lanes, whatever you want to call them. i feel like the golf cart-oriented communities are a perfect example of re/designed infrastructure allowing people to get around by something other than cars. same might happen if a bunch of older, upper-income white people with tons of political power decide etriking might be something they might like to do occasionally. they wouldn't have to be older or white - it just so happens that's the demographic that is currently in charge and has been forever and prob will be for the foreseeable future, and so many of our policies are based on identity politics.
    - wonder_er 4y ago
      I think scooters could be great for older folks, too. Help them retain balance and stuff. Scooters are way more stable than bicycles, but can go fast and can ride as fast as a car, if needed. Totally agree with old white people representing political power, so whatever they want is what happens.
    - dharmab 4y ago
      Revzilla has a blog and paper magazine (yes, real high quality paper) and it's the some of the best writing on motorcycle culture anywhere right now. (Along with Zach Bowman at The Drive and Fortnine's YouTube.)

inconceivable 4y ago

you sell the scooters and get a commission for the people re-doing the parking lots. the customer company is incentivized by green initiatives and they have budgets to spend.

wonder_er 4y ago
Critically, no re-doing of the parking required. It'll just be adding scooter parking spots in existing nooks and crannys around the building/parking lot. Company is incentivized by adding available vehicle parking spots. Sportique scooters, the local scooter dealer to Denver, is down and happy to offer me some commission for scooter sales that I bring in, but that's not the main thing for me. I want corporate buy-in from the companies I'm courting, cuz I'll need their permission to access staff and customers. (I'll be adding signage, and the companies will make some concession to scooter riders, to make it a bit more appealing. A free drink, $20/mo in free food, etc. It'll be a case-by-case decision, based on what they can offer that's easiest/most useful to the customer, etc) Scooters are super cheap, and let you move through a city way fast, and can be parked nearly anywhere, regardless of how busy the area is, and it's literally $6 for a tank of gas. And they get 100 mpg. I think a little progress will lead to a lot of progress.

wonder_er 4y ago

How to make money: Offer this as a service to a business. The service (which I'm charging for, but don't yet have customers) is: 1. Paint some scooter parking lines in a reasonable spot, and add a signage explaining why the org wants to incentivize scooter usage. 2. The scooter parking would make use of existing nooks and crannys in the parking lot, so it wouldn't take away existing car parking. 3. Work with the staff to find the staff that lives relatively close to the business, and is amenable to scooting. Teach and train and hand-hold through their scooter purchase, so when they're working, their scooter is parked outside. 4. Once there's staff using scooters regularly, there will nearly always be a scooter or two parked outside the building, which will start to normalize scooter usage for customers 5. Hand-hold early adapting customers through the same process. 6. Add signage and website and email campaigns to let interested customers learn more about the whole thing. Done. Every time there is a scooter parked in front of a business, that's a car parking spot freed up. Keep refining the process until during busy hours, there is a number of scooters in front of the business equal to ten percent of the number of parking spots. I won't be removing any parking. Only creating new parking, and helping more people start scooting. I ran for city council in golden, Colorado, a few years ago, and saw far too much of how the sausage is made. City councils have no power, by design. They exist to absorb the ire of angry citizens, and to insulate the city staff from the effects of their decisions. There is no world where city council is helpful. They're a lagging indicator of the social norms of middle and upper class white people. The legal changes will lag social changes, so it's not helpful to directly target legal changes.

dharmab 4y ago
I bet Revzilla's magazine would love to write about this if its successful.
- readonthegoapp 4y ago
  revzilla, like revzilla.com, the motorcycle store, or magazine, as you say? saw a dude yest cruising around on some type of etrike - i liked it, and i think the main reason was because it didn't seem as ugly and wide and low-quality as a typical non-e-trike. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ prob one of these types, i would guess: https://www.google.com/search?q=GRANDTAN+M-340+Etrike+2023&newwindow=1&rlz=1C1GEWG_enUS1045US1045&sxsrf=APwXEdfV_AfKUKVFs7k2hje4G5tPBiTMSg:1680308574972&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiqh-WdtYf-AhUMMVkFHVIqCy8Q0pQJegQIBRAE&biw=1120&bih=596&dpr=2 https://www.google.com/search?q=GRANDTAN+M-340+Etrike+2023&n... i could see etrikes becoming a thing for older americans, and that matters because they have a ton of political power, relatively speaking. i figure, all the hype around ebikes is great, but largely useless. all that really matters is infrastructure/policy -- i.e. bike tracks, bike sidewalks, cycletracks, protected bike lanes, whatever you want to call them. i feel like the golf cart-oriented communities are a perfect example of re/designed infrastructure allowing people to get around by something other than cars. same might happen if a bunch of older, upper-income white people with tons of political power decide etriking might be something they might like to do occasionally. they wouldn't have to be older or white - it just so happens that's the demographic that is currently in charge and has been forever and prob will be for the foreseeable future, and so many of our policies are based on identity politics.
  - wonder_er 4y ago
    I think scooters could be great for older folks, too. Help them retain balance and stuff. Scooters are way more stable than bicycles, but can go fast and can ride as fast as a car, if needed. Totally agree with old white people representing political power, so whatever they want is what happens.
  - dharmab 4y ago
    Revzilla has a blog and paper magazine (yes, real high quality paper) and it's the some of the best writing on motorcycle culture anywhere right now. (Along with Zach Bowman at The Drive and Fortnine's YouTube.)