7 votes

Unfortunately, the electric scooters are fantastic

Posted by rkcr
Tags: sharing economy, urban planning, vehicles.electric, mobility.micro, scooters, author.robinson meyer, source.the atlantic, paywall.soft
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/electric-scooters-are-the-cargo-shorts-of-transportation/561440/

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Authors
Robinson Meyer
Published
May 31 2018
Word count
1647 words

4 comments

  1. [2]
    mistouflon
    Link
    My personal transit wishlist, in decreasing order of desire: "Free" public transit That I could ride and park my own bike in my city without worry that it will get stolen (also, more physically...

    My personal transit wishlist, in decreasing order of desire:

    1. "Free" public transit
    2. That I could ride and park my own bike in my city without worry that it will get stolen (also, more physically protected bike lanes)
    3. A bike/scooter/etc share system that does not track me (door-to-door makes that harder)
    4. A yearly pass to bike/scooter/etc systems, so I don't need to pay per trip
    5 votes
    1. mistouflon
      Link Parent
      What's the generic term for these types of systems? Is it microtransit? Or is that reserved for systems where you're a passenger?

      What's the generic term for these types of systems? Is it microtransit? Or is that reserved for systems where you're a passenger?

      1 vote
  2. [2]
    Deimos
    Link
    The Atlantic had another interesting article about the electric scooters about a week ago too, where they looked at the "charger culture" for people that go around, collect them, and charge them...

    The Atlantic had another interesting article about the electric scooters about a week ago too, where they looked at the "charger culture" for people that go around, collect them, and charge them (which the companies pay them for): https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/charging-electric-scooters-is-a-cutthroat-business/560747/

    3 votes
    1. rkcr
      Link Parent
      Based on this article, I have this suspicion that Bird is paying way too much for their contract charging workforce. If it's anything like Uber, they'll overpay for some amount of time to up their...

      Based on this article, I have this suspicion that Bird is paying way too much for their contract charging workforce. If it's anything like Uber, they'll overpay for some amount of time to up their reputation, then start slashing rates dramatically once they're well-established.

      2 votes