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Electric Scooters

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by Riz, Oct 18, 2019.

  1. Riz

    Riz Contributing Member

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  2. likestohypeguy

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    I don't have one, but they can be pretty funny...



     
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  3. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    Scooters are for children. These things are hazardous and simply avoiding walking to save a few minutes which you will just waste on the Internet anyway.
     
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  4. heypartner

    heypartner Contributing Member

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    I do like the idea of cities providing them as last-leg of mass communiting. Theoretically, should increase use of mass communiting.

    Hazards not much different than biking, if they behave by biker's rules. I do think we need a helmet requirement, at least to use the ones provided by the city.
     
  5. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    Well, as someone who has to deal with them on the daily:
    • people have no idea how to actually ride them. The stats on wrecks are staggering.
    • people ride them all over sidewalks, hitting normal peds, dogs, kids, and grandmas.
    • people ride them incompetently in bikelanes, complicating life for bikers.
    • people leave them haphazardly all over the place. It's not just ugly visual clutter, but you can trip on the things. I tend to just toss them in the street and let the cars have at them.
    It's just a complete mess for most cities b/c the stupid things don't belong anywhere. They aren't bikes, and they aren't peds, and they aren't cars, and they don't interact very well with any of those three modes.
     
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  6. heypartner

    heypartner Contributing Member

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    yeah, I found it shocking that they released them onto the streets without rules. Denver has them, too.

    Can it ever work? I don't know. But I like the idea of trying. Things like the city providing parking spots for them (several supported by one spot), or paying parking lots to support them (from revenue they provide), along with destination office building doing same, is doable ... as if you just drop them anywhere, cops can give tickets to last user from the logs.

    As for safety while using bike lanes, some regs are called for there, too, for sure. Aren't they already actually illegal on sidewalks, so ticket them? If not, that's a head-scratcher.

    I'm still hopeful that this is growing pains for a theoretically good idea to support the last-leg issue of mass transit. And consider releasing them before we know how to avoid problems was just to get the idea in action, first.
     
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  7. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    Yeah, it should be ticketed on sidewalks, but cities just don't have the bandwidth to keep up with "disruptive" technologies.
    It's a minor pet peeve. I can keep me and my dog out of their way mostly. The worst though is tech bro/sis on scooter while face in cell phone. You seriously just want to grab people and shake them sometimes.
     
  8. heypartner

    heypartner Contributing Member

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    Don’t cities own these, so it’s their “disruptive” tech. It generates revenue, so I hope the fix the issues.
     
  9. Invisible Fan

    Invisible Fan Contributing Member

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    Did someone leave a rental on your lawn?

    And did you ever give it back? :D:D:D:D
     
  10. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    Huh... maybe some places, and that could be cool. But in SF it's a bunch of private companies competing with one another, separate from city transit (AFAIK).
     
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  11. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    :D Well, we don't have lawns, so you can literally find one leaning on your house or front steps. And there's nobody to "give it back" to. Someone finishes using the damned turd, logs off their scooter app, and walks away. Might as well let some trash trucks run over it a few times before someother techie can log on.
     
  12. droxford

    droxford Member

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    This is very true. We bought one for our son a few years ago and, although there is an initial "this is cool!" appeal, we soon learned that they just don't belong anywhere.

    Also, we wanted our son to get the physical activity of riding a bike, rather than riding an electric scooter. Unfortunately, his electric scooter now slumbers in our garage.
     
  13. likestohypeguy

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  14. rhino17

    rhino17 Member

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    Exactly right. I take the light rail downtown, hop on a scooter to get where I need to go. If one is nearby me I'll take it to the grocery store instead of driving. I think they are petty convenient. Although they aren't city owned, at least in Denver.
     
  15. AroundTheWorld

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    I use the Uber and Lime scooters all the time. Useful.
     
  16. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    Where do you ride them? Streets, sidewalks, or bike lanes.

    If you're competent and courteous with them, good for you. Totally wouldn't fit in in SF though.
     
  17. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

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    These stupid things are littered all over Downtown Dallas. Most cities don't have any regulations on them, so the companies just take a crapload of them and dump them everywhere in a city. They're hoping people who start using them as a convenience will make the city change laws if necessary to allow them. They tried dumping them here in the 'burbs and got the boot. But they did get the city to notice and they're looking into new regulations about where they can be placed and how they can be maintained.

    As a side note, Dean Kamen's original vision of personal mobility changing the world with his Segway kind of is coming true since most of these are using Segway technology in a way. I think most of the Lime and Bird scooters are built by Segway-Ninebot after the Chinese company bought them out.
     
  18. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

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    One of my co-workers hit a a pothole or bump flying down the road on one of those things and the end result wasn't pretty. He was torn up and ended up going to physical therapy or something for the accident. We still give him grief over it. :D
     
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  19. rhino17

    rhino17 Member

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    Bikelanes if available. Most of downtown has bike lanes. Sidewalk otherwise which are typically fine in neighborhoods. If I see people coming towards me I'll dip into the street for a bit.

    Some people definitely cannot handle them, but as long as you are respectful with em, seems good to me. Saw an older guy last Friday night riding full speed (18mph) directly into a fence in front of Union Station. Sprawled out all over the place, looked like he hurt himself pretty good.
     
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  20. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    For the record, I don't "like" or cheer for accidents, but just appreciate the stories/perspectives.

    Maybe the problem in SF is the incredible density of pedestrians, cars, and bikes already. Seems harder to squeeze in a different modality. Cheers.
     

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