Electric Scooter Rentals

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Isgrimnur
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Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by Isgrimnur »

Tucson
The University of Arizona is turning to GPS to enforce its campus ban on electric scooters in preparation of the city of Tucson launching its dockless rental scooter pilot program this week.

Should a rental scooter user wander past the electric campus boundary, the scooters will idle down to a complete stop, while riders will also receive a message on their app that they’re in a “no-ride zone.”

The exact path of the geo-fence had not yet been finalized, as of Friday morning, but “generally speaking it encompasses all of UA property,” said Jim Sayre, the university’s executive director of parking and transportation.
...
Andy Bemis, the city’s bicycle and pedestrian program coordinator, said Arizona State University has a similar geo-fence around its campus after ASU also enacted a campus ban on electric scooters.
...
In the process of preparing for the launch, the city notified the two companies that they would not be allowed to operate in two areas where the electric scooters are banned — the UA campus and the Pima County Loop trail — and potentially during special events, such as fairs on Fourth Avenue.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by pr0ner »

Excellent.

Just yesterday I watched someone cross (in a crosswalk) against a red light as the light on the street I was on turned green (and almost get hit by a car), and watched someone else lose control and almost fall off of one in a 2-minute span.

Between that, people leaving them in places they shouldn't, and breaking rules while riding (like 2 people on one scooter), I would be happy if those things just went away tomorrow.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by hepcat »

Ditto. Too often I see some idiotic kid just barrelling down the middle of a busy road on one of these things.

When I was in San Diego last January I was surprised to see how fast they go. Folks were dodging out of the way of these mini rockets everywhere I went. They seemed significantly faster in that region than they do here in Chicago. I wonder if that was just my perception of things though.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by hitbyambulance »

the ban in Seattle is lifting soon. lots of ebikes here already (complete with people zooming around on those with no helmet and open-toed footwear... having gotten into a head-injry accident back in April on a non-motorized bike *with* a helmet, the eventual accident someone is going to have on those is going to be messy)
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by gbasden »

I actually really like them. Downtown Sacramento doesn't have a lot of parking, and I often have meetings in several state buildings. It's way easier to find one parking place, then use a scooter to get from meeting to meeting if it's more than 5 or 6 blocks.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by morlac »

I dunno, Dragoncon + Booze + Ebikes = hilarity for me a couple weeks ago. Well as an observer and not a participant. I get the appeal of them but as currently constructed the systems is ripe for abuse.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by Alefroth »

I'm in Atlanta at the moment and they've just banned scooter use at night after 4 fatalities since the beginning of the year.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by LawBeefaroni »

No opinion except that if I wanted to use them, the fact that they're just randomly placed makes them too unpredictable to really be useful.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by Blackhawk »

I have never actually seen one in person. I'm actually surprised at the hatred they bring around here. I'd have thought OO urbanites would approve of such things.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

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Blackhawk wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 4:08 pm I have never actually seen one in person. I'm actually surprised at the hatred they bring around here. I'd have thought OO urbanites would approve of such things.
They clog up sidewalks when parked (to say nothing of when folks ride them on sidewalks, which they're not supposed to do) and they can be a traffic hazard.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by hepcat »

I WISH they parked them. Normally you trip over them because folks just fling them to the side after they're finished with them. I don't think I've ever seen one set aside with anything resembling a modicum of care or thought for others.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by Blackhawk »

Ah. So the scooters are a great idea that cuts down on fossil fuels and congestion, but that fails in the face of the fact that people are mindless dicks. Got it.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by Isgrimnur »

You don't even have to use them to be a mindless dick.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by Blackhawk »

But can I be a mindless dick without scooters? I mean, I'd petition the city for scooters, but the fact that everything in town is within two blocks of everything else would probably make it a hard sell. I'd rather just be a mindless dick with what's already around.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by Isgrimnur »

I'm sure you can. There's probably a payphone handle you could smear with Vaseline or a newspaper dispenser that you could tip over.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by Blackhawk »

Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:06 pm I'm sure you can. There's probably a payphone handle you could smear with Vaseline or a newspaper dispenser that you could tip over.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by Jaymon »

With the amount of trouble they cause, and no personal responsibility on the part of the rider, I can't understand how these things are supposed to earn money.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by LawBeefaroni »

Jaymon wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 6:34 pm With the amount of trouble they cause, and no personal responsibility on the part of the rider, I can't understand how these things are supposed to earn money.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by Exodor »

In Portland they all seem to wind up in the river
More than 50 e-scooters and a few bikes were pulled from the Willamette River in downtown Portland Tuesday and Wednesday by a county sheriff’s office dive team. The divers noticed the scooters in the river last month.

Lime, Bird and Razor e-scooters were piled up in a boat Tuesday while a dive team searched along the downtown sea wall for more. Sgt. Brandon White from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said he wasn’t sure who put the scooters in the river or why they were put there.

“We advise those people not to park scooters in the River,” White said.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by em2nought »

I just bought a used e-bike off craigslist yesterday after finding out that they exist just last weekend, and it's too much fun! :mrgreen:
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by Lorini »

To me it just seems like people ignore all the bike and skateboard accidents/fatalities because they are used to those, and these scooters are new and therefore automatically suspicious. I wish Santa Clarita had them, they'd make life a lot easier.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by morlac »

hepcat wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 4:11 pm I WISH they parked them. Normally you trip over them because folks just fling them to the side after they're finished with them. I don't think I've ever seen one set aside with anything resembling a modicum of care or thought for others.
This is my beef. Trying to cross the street downtown at a busy intersection with these thinks scattered about sucks. You best be paying attention. They need to hire "handlers" that can help out with this, ban abusive users on the fly, etc.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by hepcat »

Lorini wrote: Wed Sep 11, 2019 11:31 am To me it just seems like people ignore all the bike and skateboard accidents/fatalities because they are used to those, and these scooters are new and therefore automatically suspicious. I wish Santa Clarita had them, they'd make life a lot easier.
People on bikes and skateboards care about where they leave those vehicles...because they own them. That same level of care is widely forgotten with something you can rent for an hour and then throw down and keep on walking when you're done. Same goes for accidents. Folks are less careful with something they don't own.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by Lorini »

hepcat wrote: Wed Sep 11, 2019 2:09 pm
Lorini wrote: Wed Sep 11, 2019 11:31 am To me it just seems like people ignore all the bike and skateboard accidents/fatalities because they are used to those, and these scooters are new and therefore automatically suspicious. I wish Santa Clarita had them, they'd make life a lot easier.
People on bikes and skateboards care about where they leave those vehicles...because they own them. That same level of care is widely forgotten with something you can rent for an hour and then throw down and keep on walking when you're done. Same goes for accidents. Folks are less careful with something they don't own.
I was speaking mostly about the accidents that are happening while riding them, where I think most of the accidents are happening? I don't know that stumbling over a scooter would cause a fatality.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by hepcat »

Even taking out the inconvenience factor of scooters being tossed willy nilly all over the place by folks who just don't care, you're still looking at people taking more risks with these things than they would something they owned.

I have to say, I rarely see bicyclists driving as haphazardly as I do escooters. And I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen someone riding a skateboard, let alone doing so dangerously. Usually they're just carried around as an accessory for the cool factor these days.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

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I think there's more risk on e-scooters right now because people aren't as familiar with them. They go at a pretty good pace and some of the roads they're traveling on (in Chicago, anyway) are narrow and not well maintained. There's still dangers with bicyclists, but most people riding now have been riding bikes since they were kids, so they're just more experienced at it and better.

That said, my biggest complaint about them remains the annoyance factor. I also always see these types of things and wonder about the profitability. Seems there's a lot of overhead with scooters, charging, vans to go around and gather them from where they get left, etc. I'm guessing you'd have to have pretty high usage to actually turn a profit, and I can only imagine how chaotic the streets and sidewalks would be with that level of usage. Of course, that's just my speculation - for all I know it's a wildly profitable business (but I doubt it :P ).
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by Lorini »

ImLawBoy wrote: Thu Sep 12, 2019 9:45 am I think there's more risk on e-scooters right now because people aren't as familiar with them. They go at a pretty good pace and some of the roads they're traveling on (in Chicago, anyway) are narrow and not well maintained. There's still dangers with bicyclists, but most people riding now have been riding bikes since they were kids, so they're just more experienced at it and better.

That said, my biggest complaint about them remains the annoyance factor. I also always see these types of things and wonder about the profitability. Seems there's a lot of overhead with scooters, charging, vans to go around and gather them from where they get left, etc. I'm guessing you'd have to have pretty high usage to actually turn a profit, and I can only imagine how chaotic the streets and sidewalks would be with that level of usage. Of course, that's just my speculation - for all I know it's a wildly profitable business (but I doubt it :P ).
I don't know what it costs to ride one because like I said, they aren't in my city. But the profitability would turn on that cost plus how often the scooters get used. It may work out that fewer scooters would result in more daily usage, since as you are saying, the more scooters the higher the cost of maintenance and more scooters would probably result in each of them being ridden less. I suspect because of that you won't see more scooters but it really depends on the intelligence of the owners of the scooter companies.
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Re: Electric Scooter Rentals

Post by LawBeefaroni »

They're losing money in Chicago for sure. There are 10 scooter companies competing for future business. Right now it's a loss leader to win (in my estimation) a heavily subsidized monopoly.
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