Scooters In Cities Are Becoming A Huge Problem (cnn.com) 169
An anonymous reader quotes CNN:
Stewart Goodwin tried to put a stop to the constant flow of scooters into the plaza he oversees. He spoke to the government and scooter companies, but to no avail. "We still find scooters in our fountains," Goodwin, executive director of the Indiana War Memorials in Indianapolis, told CNN Business. "We find them in the canal. We find them strewn all over the sidewalks."
In the Wild West of transportation, no one knows what to do about scooters. They appeared suddenly in many cities, triggering complaints of clutter and blocked sidewalks. When ridden, scooters emerged as sidewalk bullies -- fast enough to unsettle pedestrians and create safety issues. But force scooters into the streets and they are slow and vulnerable amid two-ton vehicles, not to mention potholes that can swallow small tires.
Now, governments, communities and businesses -- even the scooter companies themselves -- are playing catchup on finding the right rules for scooters, and how to enforce them....
None of this is what was supposed to happen.
CNN notes that this summer Atlanta banned nighttime riding "following a string of scooter deaths," while other cities have totally banned scooters, "with lingering memories of how Uber stormed onto their streets and created long-lasting challenges for local governments."
In the Wild West of transportation, no one knows what to do about scooters. They appeared suddenly in many cities, triggering complaints of clutter and blocked sidewalks. When ridden, scooters emerged as sidewalk bullies -- fast enough to unsettle pedestrians and create safety issues. But force scooters into the streets and they are slow and vulnerable amid two-ton vehicles, not to mention potholes that can swallow small tires.
Now, governments, communities and businesses -- even the scooter companies themselves -- are playing catchup on finding the right rules for scooters, and how to enforce them....
None of this is what was supposed to happen.
CNN notes that this summer Atlanta banned nighttime riding "following a string of scooter deaths," while other cities have totally banned scooters, "with lingering memories of how Uber stormed onto their streets and created long-lasting challenges for local governments."
Scooters are underlining a latent demand for trans (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't think scooters are a problem, there's a bunch of news articles saying they are a problem, but the majority of people surveyed seem to really like them. The fact that scooters are so dang popular, well, everywhere, is a testament to how effective they are. Yes people don't park them in good spots and yeah they can fall over but honestly I live in ground zero and don't see them laying about like you do in the pictures. Most problems with scooters stem from lack of non-car transport infrastructure in c
Re:Scooters are underlining a latent demand for tr (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem with scooters, and pretty much any service like this, is not so much the scooters themselves, but inconsiderate, selfish people. Inconsiderate and selfish people are the main reason we can't have a lot of nice things that we otherwise could have. For example, one reason we don't have more public restrooms in big cities is because inconsiderate, selfish people trash them, or use them to shoot up with drugs, then leave their needles and such in them. City administrators find it easier to just not provide the service than to deal with these problems.
Society would be a far better place if it weren't for the 1-2% of individuals who don't know how to live in society without ruining things for everyone else. Unfortunately that 1-2% will always exist, and there's nothing we can do about it. So here we are.
Re: Scooters are underlining a latent demand for t (Score:3, Insightful)
As far as I can tell it's the top 25-30% of society that holds the rest of it together. A full 30% of society is in favor, or at least apathetic to the idea, of destroying everything that doesn't fit their local "tribe" ideals and generally makes things terrible for a big chunk of society. Everybody needs affordable transit, however.
Re: (Score:2)
"For example, one reason we don't have more public restrooms in big cities is because inconsiderate, selfish people trash them, or use them to shoot up with drugs, then leave their needles and such in them. City administrators find it easier to just not provide the service than to deal with these problems"
And yet people still have to shit and piss, and ,lord help you if you have IBS or some other condition where you need ready access to a bathroom.
Of course, they don't provide bathrooms, and yet it'
Re: (Score:2)
I saw an actual pile of the damned things in Helsinki last time I was there. People apparently ride them through the park, can't be arsed to carry them up three steps, and just abandon them in the middle of the path.
As long as there is no penalty for being a lazy inconsiderate asshat, lazy inconsiderate asshats will be lazy inconsiderate asshats.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
On the other hand, cars are a problem. Every sidewalk is full of them, so is every imaginable space in the city. And let's not start about safety issues and pollution...
Scooters might not be ideal, but bashing them on these issues by people using cars is hypocritical.
Re: (Score:2)
Very insightful.
We need our communities to support multiple modes of transportation effectively, and for the most part they have failed. We pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, horses, cars, trucks, light rail, and trains really aren’t compatible on common pathways, so why do we force them there? Logistically, each above group has ranges of travelers that are incompatible as well— beach cruiser mobs, casual bikers, road racers, and electric assist bikes have huge compatibility issues, as do differ
Re: Scooters are underlining a latent demand for t (Score:2)
Toss 'em in the gulag! Get off my lawn!
I call Bullsh*t (Score:5, Interesting)
"None of this is what was supposed to happen."
That's BS. Scooters (in California at least) were as much in violation of laws as the sudden spurge of dockless bikes were a few months before they debuted. This was an intentional movement in the Uber manner: "break the law first and ask forgiveness later".
In addition to being public nuisances and storing commercial property on public thoroughfares, they enticed violation of law by encouraging use without a helmet (same for the bikes). Saying "you agree to use a helmet when riding this" is risible when the entire business model is based around people who obviously are not walking around with bicycle helmets. (The lack thereof is primarily the cause of the fatalities that have occurred.)
Scooter and bike companies (and the progressives cheering them on) shouldn't be claiming non-culpability here -- they wanted to do this and to get first-mover benefits, caring little about negative externalities.
Re: I call Bullsh*t (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
And cities could ban them if they wanted to get rid of them. That is a power they have.
In theory, yes. Punitive (as in: let's put them out of business) fines were an option, but the massive explosion of the industry has moved faster than even local regulation could keep up. Enforcement was practically impossible for a while, and almost still is... See: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/sd-me-scooter-rules-20180919-story.html [sandiegouniontribune.com], which was a solid year after they first appeared here.
Re: (Score:2)
That's not necessary. Just apply existing laws.
They're unsafe and illegal to ride on pavements so stop and fine anybody doing that.
They're not road legal so stop and fine anybody riding them on the road.
People will stop using them because they keep getting stopped fined, and losing their driving licences. That will put the scooter companies out of business. Problem solved.
Re: (Score:2)
Toronto had docked, not dockless, bicycles. They didn't make the suppliers instant money they way dockless did, but are working out fairly well.
My company's new office is a short scoot from the main train and subway station, so if someone wants to offer docked scooters, I have a high-value location for them to consider!
Re:I call Bullsh*t (Score:5, Interesting)
Hmm... looks like there is a business opportunity here, especially with this "let's just break the law for profit until someone stops us" thing.
Start a business that collects scooters off of sidewalks, strips them for parts, and recycles them. Voila, sidewalks are now uncluttered. If the scooter companies are not managing these things that they claim to own, treating them like abandoned property, and throwing them in fountains or dumpster are not crimes why not just pick them up for profit?
Re: (Score:2)
I think this alre
Re: (Score:2)
Start a business that collects scooters off of sidewalks, strips them for parts, and recycles them. Voila, sidewalks are now uncluttered. If the scooter companies are not managing these things that they claim to own, treating them like abandoned property, and throwing them in fountains or dumpster are not crimes why not just pick them up for profit?
This does indeed exist [scootscoop.com] here in San Diego, operating somewhere between unlicensed nuisance collectors and a tow company (depending on if the scooter company owning it has been properly licensed with the city or not).
More articles: https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/san-diego-news/san-diego-company-tackling-scooter-infestation-with-free-removal-from-property [10news.com]
https://patch.com/california/san-diego/will-san-diego-scoot-scoop-guys-slay-electric-scooter-goliaths [patch.com]
https://jalopnik.com/vigilantes-are-taking-scoote [jalopnik.com]
Re: (Score:2)
This has been happening for at least a year already.
There are actually two companies. One collects the scooters and impounds them on behalf of the city, charging the scooter company a fee. If they don't collect they throw the scooter in an auction.
Another company makes conversion kits to make the scooters suitable for personal use.
Alternatively the new owner can just strip for parts and buy a kit that turns the lithium cells into a usable battery.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
On sidewalks, paths, subdivisions sure. On roads posted @35mph or greater helmets are usually required if you are riding in a designated bicycle lane.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
they enticed violation of law by encouraging use without a helmet (same for the bikes)
Um, in most states it's perfectly legal to ride a bicycle without a helmet. Stupid, but legal.
Indeed. In fact, before scooters (and dockless bikes) I would have agreed that these laws were a bad idea ... and I think most San Diegans would have agreed too. San Diego has a strong recreational/outdoor vibe and a lot of people riding bikes for fun or exercise. Most of them bike somewhat regularly and ... well, are adults and know what they're doing. (Commuter biking is entirely different. We have basically no commuter bike culture because of our geography.) Helmet laws seemed superfluous in those cases,
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I got news for you, you dont need a helmet to ride a bike, period. If you are out doing hardcore downhilling sure, you need a helmet. You dont need one for everyday biking. Im so fucking tired of morons like you pretending to know whats best. Do you wear a helmet walking around? How about when driving?
See above for a response. I would have agreed with you, and most Californians would have too, until the recent explosion in bike/scooter usage due to dockless availability. The clientele is different with these; even proportionally with the increased usage, we're seeing a ton more injuries. Remember, San Diego is primarily a tourist/recreation city. And regular suburban bikers biking for exercise probably do it often and know the streets. (Also, FWIW, San Diego has tons of hills everywhere -- which is one o
Re: (Score:2)
"and the progressives cheering them on"
You were doing so well up to that point. Why ruin such an excellent, objective post with a worthless political jab at the end?
Re: (Score:2)
"and the progressives cheering them on"
You were doing so well up to that point. Why ruin such an excellent, objective post with a worthless political jab at the end?
I think it's a fair jab. There's a lot of division in San Diego over these (and all of the cities in California, really), but those who are pushing for increased usage and liberal (no pun intended) licensing and enforcement laws against them are the ones going on about:
a) how useful they are in the high-density cores that correlate with YIMBY development interests (which much of San Diego is fighting against),
b) climate change requiring drastic solutions NOW, and this being a reasonable last-mile transporta
Re: I call Bullsh*t (Score:2)
Let me guess, you're an automobile commuter?
Re: (Score:2)
Let me guess, you're an automobile commuter?
Let me guess, you live in New York City and didn't learn to drive until late and possibly rarely do?
San Diego has a 3% transit ridership rate, and 94% of households have at least one car. Most (>60%) have two, including most families.
Take a look at a map -- especially a topographical map -- of San Diego County to see why. As a native who *couldn't* drive until age 20 thanks to an accident on my permit when I was 15, I wouldn't wish forced transit on my worst enemy.
And even for the rare situations (mostly
car owners pay rental fees to be on public streets (Score:2)
Additionally, rental car companies typically warehouse their vehicles on private lots. Scooter companies are wareho
Re: (Score:2)
In no state [taxfoundation.org] are the roads financed exclusively through the gas tax and other road user fees. Guess who makes up the difference? Scooter companies, among others.
Re: (Score:2)
Cars parked on a public street have a license plate indicating whether registration fees have been paid. These registration fees entitle them to be on the street that is partly maintained by those same fees in addition to the gasoline taxes incurred by the use of those cars.
This is very much correct. When you're renting a licensed vehicle, you're renting a vehicle that's authorized to be on the public roadway. Scooters themselves were (and often are still) not authorized to be strewn on the sidewalk in the first place. Your renting it doesn't change that, because *you* wouldn't be allowed to just leave your property on the sidewalk in the first place. That would either be littering or, in residential communities if you leave your car poking out of your driveway into the public
Re: (Score:2)
Tragedy of the commons (Score:3)
This is why we can't have nice things.
Companies: "Hey, let's litter public spaces with scooters for profit! Our users will surely Do The Right Thing and use and park them politely, haha. And we don't have to pay for storage, and we can hire randoms to charge them overnight for a pittance!!"
Users: "I don't own this scooter and there's no real repercussions for me dumping this thing anywhere! INTO THE FOUNTAIN IT GOES!! haha"
It's not quite a case of, "everyone will fuck over public spaces if they get a chance", but there's a high enough percentage of people that will do so, either to make a profit, or be lazy, or just to be dicks for lulz. And that percentage ruins it for everyone.
Re: (Score:2)
It's not quite a case of, "everyone will fuck over public spaces if they get a chance", but there's a high enough percentage of people that will do so, either to make a profit, or be lazy, or just to be dicks for lulz. And that percentage ruins it for everyone.
I work at a large university, and unfortunately here those percentages seem rather high. I haven’t seen many scooters around here yet, but those Lime bikes seem to get left in places deliberately chosen to interfere with foot traffic. I am not convinced it’s riders doing this... I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the people hired to move the bikes around are instructed to place them deliberately this way to get attention.
Re: (Score:2)
Just schedule a hurricane. (Score:5, Funny)
Just schedule a hurricane and everyone will go out and pick up their scooters. Then you can cancel the hurricane by dropping a nuke on it.
Re: (Score:2)
I am intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
A simple solution. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: A simple solution. (Score:2)
Get off my lawn, and get back in your car!
Simple answer (Score:5, Insightful)
Drop them in the nearest dumpster since they're litter. Expensive litter, but litter nonetheless.
Re: (Score:2)
...and get off my lawn.
Re: Simple answer (Score:2)
And get back in your car! Keep up this scooter crap and you're going to _ruin_ all the perfectly good traffic jams we worked so hard to create!
Re: (Score:2)
Drop them in the nearest dumpster since they're litter.
Or you can take a cheap chop saw, remove the control unit and sell the rest to a local scrap dealer.
Re: Simple answer (Score:2)
You'd change your tune if you parked your car overnight in the wrong spot and someone treated it like litter in the manner you say.
Even if someone parks their car in your front yard, you can't legally move it to the lake, just sayin.
Re: (Score:2)
If you park your car in the wrong spot it's likely to get towed or clamped, and will cost you significantly to retrieve it...
On the public roads in most countries you will have paid a tax for your car which allows you to use it on public roads and leave it on public roads where there are no parking restrictions, if you haven't paid this tax then your car is also likely to get towed away and subsequently destroyed.
Re: (Score:2)
Such a waste! They have perfectly good batteries, usually 200-400Wh of capacity you could repurpose, and a decent motor you could recycle.
Also many jurisdictions don't allow you to throw lithium batteries in the trash for safety reasons.
Scooters are not the problem (Score:2)
The problem is the silly idea that people will treat them well if they are not personally owned
If it was my scooter, I wouldn't throw it in a river unless I was drunk and angry at it for failing
Sidewalks are not for storing stuff (Score:5, Interesting)
"But we can't control where users park the scooter when they're finished using them!" That's your problem, not the public's. Your business model needs to incorporate something to keep these things from becoming a public nuisance. The car rental business seems to have no problem getting people to return cars to a designated return area after use. Same for the cart rentals at airports. Public sidewalks are for moving on, not storing your stuff on. I'll get a ticket if I park a trailer in my driveway so part of it sticks into the sidewalk. We're not singling out scooters for unfair treatment, they're currently enjoying unfair lenient treatment and we're just trying to get them treated the same as everything else.
Re: (Score:3)
Agreed, but California says otherwise with its burgeoning homeless population. It's starting to look like scenes from Soylent Green.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Sidewalks are not for storing stuff (Score:2)
'Cuz good, virtuous people drive cars. They _deserve_ ubiquitous parking! Whereas those damned kids driving clean, efficient, environmentally friendly scooters - will, they're the scum of the earth and should be glad we don't just have the gestapo beat them on sight!
Ban Dockless Scooters and Bikes (Score:4, Interesting)
Frankly, these obnoxious pieces of metal shouldn't be on our sidewalks driving or otherwise. I see jack asses zooming down sidewalks all of the time.
Want an easy solution to getting rid of these obnoxious pieces of crap? Require every one of them to be registered like cars and that each rider have insurance. Not having a helmet is a finable offense that can get your insurance dropped - meaning you can't ride anymore.
I'm sick of these things being left all over the place and the tool bags who zip around with them piled 15 high in their nasty pickups. It's time to fight dirty.
Re: (Score:2)
The most efficient regulations are ones that pit profit versus profit, rather than profit versus politics.
Re: Ban Dockless Scooters and Bikes (Score:2)
Jawohl, mein Herr! Ve vill have das gestapo get das kids off die lawn!
Health and fitness implications (Score:2)
Maybe this isn't an issue in the US where it's tough to walk much in many cities, but in Europe I can't help but wonder what ubiquitous scooting will do to public health, by cutting down even further on the amount we all walk.
Garbage clickbait article (Score:2)
Which do you think gets more clicks:
"Scooters In Cities Are Becoming A Huge Problem"
or
"Other than a few assholes, Scooters are great"
Re: (Score:2)
Its not just a few assholes so much, I would say at least half of what seems like idiot assholery can be attributed to maintenance issues. Specifically the brakes. Birds regenerative brakes can be absolute rubbish going down a 15-20 degree downgrade...there is nothing like discovering you have no brake control during high traffic going down a curved 20 degree hill with no place to go. ....Pro tip, if that ever happens, the rear fender is supposed to either have an emergency brake or you can stamp on the rea
Re: (Score:2)
or the more accurate:
"Other than a lot of assholes, scooters are great."
We still find scooters in our fountains (Score:2)
.....Goodwin, executive director of the Indiana War Memorials in Indianapolis, told CNN Business.
So treat them like coins. You find those in your fountains too, no?
Recycle them and donate the proceeds to something worthwhile.
It's not the scooters, it's the riders (Score:2)
The problem isn't the scooters, or the e-bikes. It's the riders. They don't face any penalty for leaving their rides in inappropriate places, so they drop them at whatever spot they're done with them and leave them. The cops don't ticket the companies when that happens either, so the companies have no incentive to do anything about it that might cost them revenue. Compare this with Zipcar and the like, where if you leave the car parked where it shouldn't be when you're done with it the cops will ticket it a
I wonder if driver less cars (Score:2)
Fun to wonder about unintended consequences.
- a mobile tagging platform displaying your tagging skills in places you can't begin to imagine
Just my 2 cents
You get what you deserve (Score:2)
This is what you get if you build your infrastructure around cars alone. Scooters are not the problem as such, lacking infrastructure is.
Do note, by the way, that cars have always been a problem, especially in the US, where they kill about 40000 people a year - the highest number of traffic fatalities per capita of any Western country by far (not counting the additional 71000 yearly deaths caused by air pollution).
Scooters are not the problem, they are part of the solution, you fools.
https://en.wikipedia.or [wikipedia.org]
Illegal on roads and sidewalks in the UK (Score:2)
times they are changing (Score:2)
the way we transport is changing quickly, and infrastructure is not changing along fast enough with it.
more bikes and other modes of transport are on the rise, but as mentioned in tfa, they have no place of their own (not on the pavement, not the streets) so they are a nuisance to everybody.
And here some cities are legitimizing them (Score:3)
Kansas City (Missouri) went a different direction, by allowing a local transportation nonprofit to operate "RideKC" scooters and bicycles.
There's still the problem of being left in random places, but i don't think you'll find a simple remedy for that.
Re:why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Hard to say. Why do adults drive 4wd off-road vehicles when they're so afraid of dents and scratches they take up 2 parking spaces? Why do people who have never in their lives hauled more than a week's worth of groceries drive large diesel trucks with dual wheels and a bed liner?
There is a certain practicality to scooters in some cases except that they're too expensive for what you get and people can't seem to put them neatly out of the way when they're done with them. Of course, these are the same people who hold up the line quacking on their phone when they should be paying the cashier.
Re: (Score:3)
Why do belly buttons collect lint?
Re: (Score:2)
To keep warm.
Re: why? (Score:2)
Re: why? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
why are grown men riding children's toys?
The bigger the boys . . . the bigger the toys!
So actually, we should be seeing Nimitz class aircraft carrier sized scooters on the streets.
You don't work downtown? To go to lunch. (Score:2, Insightful)
I take it you don't work downtown.
Scooters are (by far) the best way to go do something on your lunch hour - go to lunch, run by the bank, whatever you need to do.
It can also be a good way to get from the train station to your office and back.
If it's less than 3-5 miles away, a scooter is a great way to get there. Downtown, everything is within 3-5 miles.
Driving and parking downtown is an expensive, time-consuming hassle.
Re: (Score:2)
Wouldn't it make sense to buy your own scooter, instead of paying all their fees? And a helmet of course.
No, not a good solution, a poor solution (Score:2)
Because it turns out that these particular children's toys are one effective solution to an existing problem.
Apparently you did not read the summary "When ridden, scooters emerged as sidewalk bullies -- fast enough to unsettle pedestrians and create safety issues. But force scooters into the streets and they are slow and vulnerable amid two-ton vehicles, not to mention potholes that can swallow small tires."
The article title should have been: "Legacy Vehicles are an Obstacle to the Adoption of Newer and More Efficient Transit Options."
Apparently you missed half the story, that they are a hazard to pedestrians as well. Hence not a good solution. Actually you missed 3/4 since they are also a poor fit for the roads due to potholes.
Re:No, not a good solution, a poor solution (Score:5, Insightful)
This would also solve problems that the article doesn't talk about: because the scooters are so much more efficient in terms of space, congestion problems would be essentially nonexistent. Same with parking space. Because they're cleaner and more fuel efficient, this would also address air pollution. Because the scooters are so much cheaper, this would also address a major cost of living: the average American spends more than $8k / year on their car(s). Etc.
Now obviously my response was glib, we would lose a lot of utility by getting rid of cars entirely. But we could gain a lot by doing something like eliminating cars just from city centers, or designating some streets for cars and some streets for scooters / bikes, or any number of other approaches. The point was just that we have a lot to gain by rethinking the notion that cars belong everywhere.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, right: also the potholes are caused by cars. Damage to streets goes as the square of the weight of the vehicle.
Potholes are also caused by weather, water pooling, freeze/thaw/repeat, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
Yet they are so much more rare on the sidewalks.
Re: (Score:2)
Yet [potholes] are so much more rare on the sidewalks.
Obviously: they usually occur in asphalt roads, not in the tiles sidewalks. Material does matter.
Re: (Score:2)
Um, no, in my country most sidewalks are built of asphalt.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:No, not a good solution, a poor solution (Score:4, Informative)
4th power of the axle weight, actually.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Road wear is caused by heavy trucks.
Heavy trucks are why there is food in your grocery store.
Perhaps you begin to see the flaws in your suggestion.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
To be fair, a decent number of people must disagree with you as it seems to me that they are choosing to use these scooters instead of bikes even when bike sharing options are already widely available.
People choose inferior solutions all the time. Popularity does not indicate technical "goodness".
Scooters are "skateboards" for the "uncoordinated" to a large degree. If more people were coordinated and your tossed skateboards all over town people would use those.
Regardless it seems to me that both of these methods of transport can coexist, and if that means less vehicle traffic and pollution there's little reason to lose sleep about the percentage of each.
The point is your coexistence accepts the premise that today scooters are a poor idea on sidewalks and today a poor idea on existing roads. That a major societal change is necessary. However if such a change were to take place bicycles would sti
Re: (Score:3)
Scooters are more easily transported and stored at both ends of the journey. That's a big difference, you can take the scooter up to your office to be stored and charged, not try to find a bike rack for it with no charging (for electric bikes) where it runs the risk of being stolen.
Re: No, not a good solution, a poor solution (Score:2)
Build a parallel network for everything that is no car, truck or motorcycle.
We have that in NL. The "bycicle lanes" are used by bycicles, scooters and those small electric two seaters that senior citizens use a lot. And motorized wheelchairs. And of course the bikes can have a battery which allows 70 year old lady to pass me by:)
All that being said, the scooters are annoying and dangerous even in this situation. The kids ride them too fast and carelessly. And then there are the delivery scooters. Uber eat
Re:No, not a good solution, a poor solution (Score:5, Insightful)
Civilized cultures create bicycle lanes. When I'm driving my car, I hate them, but when I'm on my scooter, I love them. This way, I'm not on a pedestrian path or a car path. If you're living someplace where they don't have bicycle lanes, you should be voting to have them added.
Potholes aren't a problem in civilized cultures. We simply tax car drivers to the brink of insanity (see Norway 2019 elections... the core topic being excessive toll booth taxes), and we use the money to keep the roads in functional and operational order for electric cars, bicycles and scooters. Problem solved.
I would also like to point out that people riding scooters as rentals are often a problem. These scooters are often billed per minute of travel which means people riding them are more likely to ride like psychos. When you own a scooter, you have all the time in the world and it's a very good solution.
As for parking situations, I personally hate the scooters laying around everywhere... Singapore (probably one of the most well planned cities in the world) solved this problem intelligently. The scooter companies rent patches of sidewalk and paint them for scooter parking. As of this summer, they're in trial, however in time, there will be scooter parking spaces all over the island. If you don't park the scooter on the green square, you continue paying per minute.
This of course makes it so the scooters are a little less accessible as you might be forced to park the scooter a few blocks from where you're destined, but it convinces the scooter companies to make sure they're not a burden and to ensure there is enough parking.
You're making a lot of arguments about why they're bad but offering no solutions.
Consider this... the scooters are far smarter than taxis for a lot of transportation needs. They are not "green" to manufacture and they break easily which means they have a high cost in the sense of broken parts needing to be replaced. They are however much more sensible since they take far less space than a car, they reduced the number of taxis and Ubers on the road (there are WAY TOO MANY), and they are very convenient. If you need to dispose of a scooter, it's far less burdensome than a car with regards to recycling. There's a lot less plastic on a scooter as well.
Focus on the solution, not the problem.
Re: (Score:2)
As a cyclist who'd almost been hit several times by scooters, I hate this. What is it with scooter riders that make them:
1) Hold a frozen a frozen position on their scooter that seems to prevent them making simple shoulder checks whe
Re: (Score:3)
None of this is what was supposed to happen.
Why does that line not read "None of this was supposed to happen, but all of it was 100% predictable that it was going to happen". How could anyone not see this happening?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
and a log of grain futures contracts for the state of Iowa 1989-1991.
A prime year, but personally I prefer '87 Illinois.
public spaces are the government's responsibility (Score:5, Insightful)
The government, rightfully so, creates rules for the use of public spaces, such as roads and sidewalks.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Technically by law, they would be abandoned property. Once dumped on the street, it is questionable as to whether they can claim ownership, it is not like they are parking, they are dumped indefinitely, in unrecognised travel space, if not the property of anyone who happens to choose to pick it up, certainly the property of local government. It is really up to them to simply pick them off the street and sell them to the highest bidder.
Re: Abandoned private property (Score:2)
Well-known Nazi damages clean, efficient, affordable, environmentally friendly shared transport out of spite. Nothing to see here....
Re: Another antagonistic article. (Score:2)
Figure Uber/Lyft PR paid for the "journalist" to write the anti-scooter article? Given their generally evil management and the obvious challenge to their business model, seems pretty plausible.
Re: Only if your city sucks (Score:2)
Stop in now with the reasonable, effective solutions. You're going to spoil today's two minutes hate!