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The Rise of the Electric Scooter

blog.codinghorror.com

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Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#61

Post by kennywinker »

mturmon wrote: post #27

Honest question: How do people lock these things if visiting a shop for a half-hour? (Edited to add: Sorry for confusion! I'm talking about an owned model like the one in OP, the Xiaomi Mi M365 - I looked at some product imagery and it wasn't clear if this was possible.)

Yeah locking is... a bit awkward. Bring it into the shop seems to be the best way to go, but there will definitely be situations where that's awkward or impossible... a small cable bike lock in your bag or wrapped around the stem will solve those cases.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#62

Post by Steltek »

mips_avatar wrote: post #39

I recently bought a Boosted rev and have been using it for my 1.8 miles commute. I strongly disagree with the author's 15mph limit. I think 25 mph is a more reasonable limit, otherwise you have cars aggressively trying to pass you on roads. At 24 mph (my scooters max speed), the cars on my commute (25mph speed limit), still try to pass me sometimes but it's a lot safer.

Or maybe cars should obey the speed limit, pass at a safe and reasonable distance, and not road rage at people? I mean, why does every new alternative travel mode need to work around the unacceptable and lawless US driver behavior?

That all said, 25mph on scooter wheels sounds terrifying. I've seen some escooters with tiny adorable disc brakes. What's your stopping distance at that speed?

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#63

Post by modo_ »

shafyy wrote: post #41
eldenbishop wrote: post #38

I rode a non-electric kick scooter (Xootr) for three years working in downtown SF. It is by far the best form of transitional transport there is and superior to bikes for 99% of actual real world travel. It was easily 4-5 times faster than walking and more importantly suddenly made the entire city open due to how insanely efficient it was for "glueing" together various forms of public transport. I could hop from tran…

I've been biking for 2 years in SF and disagree that it's impractical for short trips. Why do you think that?

I use a bike to get around SF the majority of the time as well. But lately I've been switching it up and using a skateboard for short trips. Riding the bike definitely isn't 'impractical', but the skateboard is so much less of a hassle.

You don't have to bother carrying a lock (or walk to the corner to find the nearest pole to lock it to for that matter). And, don't tell my Mom, but not fiddling with a helmet and lights is huge too.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#64

Post by beatgammit »

pretendscholar wrote: post #28
TulliusCicero wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Walking is slow. Walking a mile takes around 20 minutes. If you walk a mile to the transit station at the beginning and walk a mile at the end, that's 40 minutes of travel time before you even factor in the bus/train trip. Of course, walking is to be encouraged where practical, but it has a very short effective range compared to a bike or scooter. Scooters and bikes drastically extend the effective reach of transit s…

>Walking is slow. Walking a mile takes around 20 minutes. Maybe if you are crawling. Thats 3 miles an hour.

If I push it, I can get to my closest bus stop (~1 mile away) in 15 minutes (assuming no waits for traffic, but my legs will be tired. On my bike, it's closer to 5 minutes, less if I push it. If I'm considering taking the bus, you can bet I'll need to factor in getting to the stop. As it stands, taking the bus to my job takes ~40 minutes if I take my bike, 50-60 minutes if I walk, which is really bad compared to my 20 minute commute by car.

I'm a fast walker, but I definitely wouldn't consider taking the bus if it meant walking everyday.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#65

Post by altoidaltoid »

masklinn wrote: post #3
melling wrote: post #2

The last mile has been solved? Now we simply need to make the 50-75 miles in-between more bearable. Hopefully, someday soon we’ll be covering that vast distance at the incredible speed of 100 mph (160 kph) https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/china-driverless-maglev-t...

> Hopefully, someday soon we’ll be covering that vast distance at the incredible speed of 100 mph (160 kph) > https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/china-driverless-maglev-t... Intercity / regional trains are already a thing, and 160kph or so is a standard top speed for them e.g. Class 387, SNCF Class B 81500, … [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Régiolis [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCF_Class_B_81500

In the US , the problem is dedicated Rail ROW to run intercity trains at a frequency where they are actually competitive with the car. Otherwise ROW acquisition tends to sink most proposals, and this not counting the actual construction costs

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#66

Post by s_y_n_t_a_x »

Steltek wrote: post #57
s_y_n_t_a_x wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just about choice, it's a safety issue. https://www.consumerreports.org/product-safety/deaths-tied-t... > Earlier this year, a CR investigation—which tabulated injuries from 110 hospitals in 47 U.S. cities—found that at least 1,500 riders had been injured since e-scooters were introduced in late 2017, and there were four fatalities. Since then, CR has identified an additional four deaths.

No, the safety issue is cars. Take away cars and you take away 99.9% of transportation's ~40,0000 annual fatalities.

Scooters have no regulation and constant misuse. Yes cars are dangerous, but that's not what we're talking about, and you can't remove them, unless you plan to relocate everyone to urban areas, revamp public transportation in urban areas (which can't seem to be done, see California train), and figure out how to stock stores without trucks.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#67

Post by Steltek »

joefourier wrote: post #48
mturmon wrote: post #27

Honest question: How do people lock these things if visiting a shop for a half-hour? (Edited to add: Sorry for confusion! I'm talking about an owned model like the one in OP, the Xiaomi Mi M365 - I looked at some product imagery and it wasn't clear if this was possible.)

I bring mine inside and wheel it around while I shop. It takes up about as much space as a trolley or pram, so it's never inconvenienced anyone.

Oh I'm sure someone felt offended, whether they were actually inconvenienced or not. It's a typical reaction in some people: they don't see you mildly going about your business of picking tomatoes, they see the faceless e-scooter that got in their way earlier.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#68

Post by sagichmal »

taylorlapeyre wrote: post #44

I wish they didn't look so silly to ride. I know that scooters will slowly become more ubiquitous and, as a result, will be considered more normal and less goofy to ride. But for now, it just kinda looks goofy to a lot of people.

I totally agree, the current design language of almost every electric scooter makes the rider look like a total goober.

There seems to me to be a clear gap in the market for a scooter that... looks good. One that elevates the rider as little as possible, 2-3cm seems ideal. One with a front pole that lets the rider's arms stay mostly extended downward, rather than the current "water-skiing" posture. And one with significantly larger wheels, to handle anything other than perfect asphalt.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#69

Post by danesparza »

pretendscholar wrote: post #28
TulliusCicero wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Walking is slow. Walking a mile takes around 20 minutes. If you walk a mile to the transit station at the beginning and walk a mile at the end, that's 40 minutes of travel time before you even factor in the bus/train trip. Of course, walking is to be encouraged where practical, but it has a very short effective range compared to a bike or scooter. Scooters and bikes drastically extend the effective reach of transit s…

>Walking is slow. Walking a mile takes around 20 minutes. Maybe if you are crawling. Thats 3 miles an hour.

We can't all be 23 year old marathon runners who shower and change at work.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#70

Post by throw0101a »

Perhaps it's because I have a motorcycle, but every time I come across the word "scooter" what comes to mind is a Vespa-like vehicle.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter#Vehicles

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kick_scooter

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_(motorcycle)

I'm curious about the etymology for each type, and how both ended up using the same word.

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