Things just keep getting worse for e-scooters

[Deleted member 4210]

This is REALLY bad.

https://electrek.co/2019/03/08/elec...ile-up-half-coming-from-drunk-or-high-riders/


It's sad how so many otherwise positive things just get messed up by a certain population of people who insist upon abusing the privilege and freedoms our country brings.

Let's hope these few don't ruin it for everyone else.

 

[Credible Hulk]

Unfortunately ruin is exactly what will happen.

Electrified scooters were a dumb idea to begin with. They are unstable and their tiny wheels catch in everything. Scooters were originally designed by kids, for kids to push manually on sidewalks. They used to use four-wheeled roller skate wheels attacked to an old piece of wood. Speaking of dumb ideas, indiscriminately renting them out to beginners with no helmets and no practice run before they hit the sidewalks is another gem. They're just as dumb as those hoverboards, which went out of style really fast because they were filling the emergency rooms.

Throw in drunks and druggies and you end up with the death knell for these scooters. The media jumps all over stories about accidents involving novel methods of transport and intoxicated drivers. Then the cops jump all over the law abiding riders, so do legislators and drivers.

It's just like the vespa style electric scooters. I have one but it's off the road and I plan to get rid of it. I drove it for 2 years. Once the public associates any mode of transport with drunks and ne'er-do-wells, the stigma never ends. I decided to switch to a bike style ebike for several reasons, but one big one was getting flipped off, cursed out, yelled at, tailgated and pushed down the road, and cut off by drivers who hated me for driving "one of those things drunks use when they lose their license". And it doesn't help that, like the sidewalk scooters, there are plenty of drunken idiots out there riding vespa scooters on sidewalks and driving like complete idiots. One of them nearly t-boned me running a red light, thankfully I was able to stop in time without wiping out. And let's face it, most who ride those fit the stereotype - older, mentally ill men with stringy long hair, torn jean jackets, scruffy beards and all kinds of stickers and crap all over their vehicles.

 

[stanmiller]

Meaningful invention is a messy process.

e-Scooters are the new trampolines (without the protective nets) and diving boards of the past.

There is a desire (and market) for nearby-express transportation. eScooters are a step forward to filling that want.

 

[Ken M]

This is REALLY bad.

https://electrek.co/2019/03/08/elec...ile-up-half-coming-from-drunk-or-high-riders/


It's sad how so many otherwise positive things just get messed up by a certain population of people who insist upon abusing the privilege and freedoms our country brings.

Let's hope these few don't ruin it for everyone else.

If the druggies and drunks were killed by the escooter accident think of the social system money that could be saved. Maybe it would be cheaper to give them all escooters and let natural selection do it's magic. Sorry I'm being mean but I just don't have any sympathy for idiots getting injured or even killed....so long as they don't hurt anyone else.

 

[6zfshdb]

What I don't understand is the business model economics used by companies like Bird and Lime. The sheer number of these e-scooters on the street is incredible! How many rides does it take to pay for the hardware and maintenance infrastructure? How many rides does the average scooter provide before being stolen, stripped for parts or thrown in the river? The coming wave of injury lawsuits is sure to put a crimp in the industry economics.

 

[Marci jo]

Hmmmm....interesting venting. E scooter haters are starting to sound just like e bike haters. Something to think about.

 

[AHicks]

What I don't understand is the business model economics used by companies like Bird and Lime. The sheer number of these e-scooters on the street is incredible! How many rides does it take to pay for the hardware and maintenance infrastructure? How many rides does the average scooter provide before being stolen, stripped for parts or thrown in the river? The coming wave of injury lawsuits is sure to put a crimp in the industry economics.

I agree. I'd like to see the business model here as well. Makes no sense at all to me. Unless it's funded by "investors" with no plans to actually get them a return, I'm just not seeing it.

It's not so much "haters" as it is a wishful thinking on the part of the companies investing in the business.

 

[Credible Hulk]

Hmmmm....interesting venting. E scooter haters are starting to sound just like e bike haters. Something to think about.

For the record, I don't hate e-scooters, I just think they're a poorly thought out idea which could be improved with a redesign to make them more stable, and some enforceable laws to make sure riders wear helmets. There's a definite need for this type of transportation in cities, it just needs to be done safely and responsibly.


Haters of small electric vehicles are incited by wild stories in the news media about drunks and druggies, as well as accidents involving cars and ebikes which are immediately blamed on the smaller vehicle. You never see a positive story about how an ebike made a positive difference in someone's life, or ebikes being good for the environment. The gas automobile lobby is still extremely powerful (electric cars were invented in the early 20th century but the oil and auto industries bought out and buried the patents), and the spandex cyclist lobby is catching up. Both groups are hostile towards ebikes. Drunks and druggies drive cars and ride on standard bicycles too, but you don't hear as much about them in the media. Local governments want people to spend money on transit, not on their own electric bike. So we get punitive and senseless laws to restrict usage of "dangerous" ebikes, and we get news stories designed to destroy the reputations of ebikes and their riders.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

What I don't understand is the business model economics used by companies like Bird and Lime. The sheer number of these e-scooters on the street is incredible! How many rides does it take to pay for the hardware and maintenance infrastructure? How many rides does the average scooter provide before being stolen, stripped for parts or thrown in the river? The coming wave of injury lawsuits is sure to put a crimp in the industry economics.

This isn't unique to e-scooter or bikeshare companies. I'd make the argument that Uber hasn't really figured out how to do whatever it does and make a profit.

For that matter, I'm still not at all clear on what the heck Facebook does that is so valuable. And given the fact that millions of Americans are checking out of Facebook I'm not alone in that.

This also isn't a new problem. There were several venture-capital funded startups in the late 60's and early 70's that were in business for almost twenty years and never turned a profit.

 

[Bobsiii]

800,000 rides in Denver in less than a half year. That will pay for a lot of maintenance, etc.

 

[Dunbar]

What I don't understand is the business model economics used by companies like Bird and Lime. The sheer number of these e-scooters on the street is incredible! How many rides does it take to pay for the hardware and maintenance infrastructure?

They’ve outsourced the charging and maintenance to the gig economy. They use public infrastructure paid for by tax revenue (which the riders pay.) On the tech side of things the marginal cost of adding additional scooters is essentially zero once the app and backend was developed. Sure they have to buy a $400-500 scooter. But do the math at $10-15/day gross you’ve paid it off pretty quickly. I have no idea what the average scooter grosses by the way but it’s not hard to see how this could be a very profitable endeavor at scale.

 

[Citycrosser]

How many folks posting in this thread have actually ridden a Lime or Bird scooter? Seriously foks, I’d like to know which of the above opinions are based on actual experience.

I have ridden both and I think they a great solution to urban transport. Any option is better than a car! And with the rise of these scooters, getting around a city is now a blast!

 

[stanmiller]

How many folks posting in this thread have actually ridden a Lime or Bird scooter? Seriously foks, I’d like to know which of the above opinions are based on actual experience.

I have ridden both and I think they a great solution to urban transport. Any option is better than a car! And with the rise of these scooters, getting around a city is now a blast!

My wife and I have ridden Lime scooters. They are great fun!

One Sunday morning we took an 8 mile round-trip ride from TripleC Brewing to Blue Blaze in Charlotte, NC. The greenway was quiet when we started, but crowded when we returned. We navigated light rail tracks, dodged the odd divot, potholes, and people.

Conclusion. Super dangerous but also super fun. I get why they are popular. But many safety (and public compatiblity) issues yet to sort out.

 

[jazz]

I have ridden on Lime scooters in several cities over the past year. Electric scooters are fun, convenient and cheap to use. They ride just fine on city streets, sidewalks and even bumpy sidewalks and roads.

Today, I zipped around on a Lime scooter in downtown Salt Lake City. In SLC they have Lime and Bird scooters and they are everywhere. Tons of people are using them too. I think if you are alert and pay attention (as you should anyways in a busy downtown city), you will be ok. Not any more safe or less safe than riding a bike or ebike in a busy city. There is nothing without some kind of risk.

Safety is an issue since you have no protection on these things and going up to 20mph is pretty fast on a scooter. However, I don't know how realistic it is to enforce the use of helmets unless they came with one and I am not sure how you would do that.