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Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

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Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#31

Post by jjxw »

ceejayoz wrote: post #24
znull wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just the bikes and scooters? Not, say, the idle cars left on streets all over town?

They're not typically "left on streets", but in designated parking spots, with specific rules and guidelines in place.

The rules and guidelines which essentially subsidize auto ownership with public space that could be better utilized. The current state of scooters probably falls too far on the "unregulated" side of things, but I'm bullish on solutions which reduce the need for curbside parking which will lead to additional transit / bike / other more productive uses of street space in urban areas.

Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#32

Post by asteli »

ProAm wrote: post #11

It sort of looks like litter when I see all the bikes and scooters just left on sidewalks all over town.

They haven't been around for long enough for users to develop culture/etiquette around parking them. Automobiles had the same problem when they were introduced, I believe.

Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#35

Post by edaemon »

xur17 wrote: post #26
edaemon wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars are at least parked in designated spots/areas. Dockless bikes and scooters don't have a designated space to park in; they have to be left on the sidewalk, and they can be dropped anywhere.

It wouldn't be too difficult for cities to create designated 'parking spots' for scooters. Or require that they must be next to a bike rack. The apps all require you to take a picture of the scooter after parking, so it would be pretty easy to verify if someone moved it after the fact.

That wouldn't be too difficult, and I think some cities have done that. The problem is that it's difficult to enforce and there isn't much incentive to try; are they going to give out tickets for poor scooter parking? Who would they ticket? Bird/Lime, the user, or the unknown person who moved it afterwards?

I think docking stations are the better solution. Portland has docked shared bikes and they work well. It prevents the littering problem almost entirely, and it could provide a way to keep these scooters charged.

Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#36

Post by kylehotchkiss »

ageitgey wrote: post #14
ThomPete wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We will see. Been "workating" with my family in LA for a few weeks and we ended up using Bird much more especially because it looks like Lime require you to pay in bundles (10usd) and there are just way more Birds available than Limes. It might change now that Uber is involved but they would have to increase their scooters fleet quite a lot I think. Been interesting because in New York Bird isn't something people tal…

Where I live (San Diego), Lime and Bird have swapped places a couple of times for who has the most scooters on the street. They are both being really aggressive in increasing the number of units. It's not uncommon to see 10 of each lined up on a sidewalk. It's also been fun to watch both companies experiment and revise their hardware. The original Lime scooters were slow and the Bird scooters were much stronger. With…

I love riding them at mission beach! I was sort of sad about the version 2. It had a speedometer but only would go 10mph, and the brake was so weird. The version 1s are much better.

Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#37

Post by ceejayoz »

jjxw wrote: post #31
ceejayoz wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not typically "left on streets", but in designated parking spots, with specific rules and guidelines in place.

The rules and guidelines which essentially subsidize auto ownership with public space that could be better utilized. The current state of scooters probably falls too far on the "unregulated" side of things, but I'm bullish on solutions which reduce the need for curbside parking which will lead to additional transit / bike / other more productive uses of street space in urban areas.

I'm all for improving bikeability/walkability of cities, I'd just like to see it done with community input rather than a VC funded private company dumping their externalities on others.

Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#39

Post by edaemon »

hirsin wrote: post #29
edaemon wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars are at least parked in designated spots/areas. Dockless bikes and scooters don't have a designated space to park in; they have to be left on the sidewalk, and they can be dropped anywhere.

When they're actually parked in those spots. But the issue is idling cars (Ubers) taking up spots in the lane because they're waiting on people/don't want to leave a good pickup zone. I see it all the time in Seattle and it's made traffic significantly worse, particularly around Cap Hill. I see the bus drivers honk at them to get out of the bus stops at least once a week.

That happens in Portland as well, especially in front of streetcar and MAX stations. I think pretty much everyone dislikes that, but that would be more like standing still on your phone in front of an escalator than tossing a scooter on a sidewalk. Plus, there are laws in place that are supposed to prevent people from idling in active lanes, it's just a question of enforcement.

Re: Uber Will Rent Scooters Through Its App in Partnership with Lime

#40

Post by xur17 »

edaemon wrote: post #35
xur17 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wouldn't be too difficult for cities to create designated 'parking spots' for scooters. Or require that they must be next to a bike rack. The apps all require you to take a picture of the scooter after parking, so it would be pretty easy to verify if someone moved it after the fact.

That wouldn't be too difficult, and I think some cities have done that. The problem is that it's difficult to enforce and there isn't much incentive to try; are they going to give out tickets for poor scooter parking? Who would they ticket? Bird/Lime, the user, or the unknown person who moved it afterwards? I think docking stations are the better solution. Portland has docked shared bikes and they work well. It preve…

You're right that it would be hard to figure out the exact mechanics of the enforcement, but I think it can be done.

> I think docking stations are the better solution. Portland has docked shared bikes and they work well. It prevents the littering problem almost entirely, and it could provide a way to keep these scooters charged.

I strongly disagree. Docked bikes have been around for a while in most cities, and scooters have been a lot more popular because they are everywhere. If I use a docked bike to go 2 miles I'll spend half my time on either end walking to and from a dock.

The only way to make the docked model work is to have many small docks - several on every block, which isn't going to happen. My suggestion is essentially this (multiple docks on every block) without the need for infrastructure. Cars (which are way less space efficient) have more parking options that docked bikes, which makes 0 sense.

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