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Lime shuts in 12 markets, lays off around 100

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Re: Lime shuts in 12 markets, lays off around 100

#301

Post by leetcrew »

xwowsersx wrote: post #273
tzs wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How far the destination of his final trip of the day is from the start of his first trip of the day.

Sorry, I'm slow I still don't get it. Zero displacement then means he's doing straight round-trips where he's going back to where he started? If so, why does that matter? I'm missing something basic here.

strictly speaking, displacement is a vector quantity, as opposed to distance, which is scalar. if you drive a mile from your house then turn around and go straight back, you've traveled a distance of two miles but your displacement is zero.

Re: Lime shuts in 12 markets, lays off around 100

#302

Post by xwowsersx »

leetcrew wrote: post #301
xwowsersx wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I'm slow I still don't get it. Zero displacement then means he's doing straight round-trips where he's going back to where he started? If so, why does that matter? I'm missing something basic here.

strictly speaking, displacement is a vector quantity, as opposed to distance, which is scalar. if you drive a mile from your house then turn around and go straight back, you've traveled a distance of two miles but your displacement is zero.

Thank you

Re: Lime shuts in 12 markets, lays off around 100

#304

Post by yibg »

evv wrote: post #287
aok1425 wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are they slaves? They have the free will to decide if they want to work or not.

Yeah? Depends how you define free will. If people want to eat and make rent, they need to afford it somehow, and the employment options are bleak (see: charging scooters). So maybe you meant they have "the free will to decide if they want to work shitty jobs, or not live". We can't be too surprised that the suicide rate is going up in this country.

That’s a weird definition of a slave and free will. By this definition none of us have free will since most things we do are driven by some motivation. I want to eat and make rent, so I work for the money to do so. Now I’m a slave?

Re: Lime shuts in 12 markets, lays off around 100

#305

Post by yibg »

mumblemumble wrote: post #93
bransonf wrote: post #42

Does anyone actually think this is a profitable market? Electric scooters are expensive, repair and charging is expensive. It’s a seasonal business. Vandalism/abuse is fairly common. In terms of any environmental benefit, I highly suspect more gasoline is being consumed to collect and distribute scooters than the offset of a few last mile transports. I suspect the cost to the consumer would have to double for it to m…

I can see personal e-scooters as being a great alternative to cars for short trips such as commuting less than 5-ish km to work, or taking the kids to school. However, I still think bicycles are vastly preferable. With a pannier rack you get quite a bit more cargo space, and in the winter, the fact that you're physically exerting yourself helps to keep you warm, which makes for a more comfortable and pleasant trip. A…

It might be an issue of implementation then, specifically with density. I had a good example of this.

About a year ago ebikes were around in Beijing but not many of them. While I enjoyed riding them (beats traffic here over low single digit KM range and faster than a bike) it was frustrating to have to hunt for them. So while I opportunistically used them when convenient it wasn’t frequent.

Fast forward to now, there are enough of them around that I can pretty much always find one on the current block. Now I use them as my primary mode of transportation ever short distances.

Re: Lime shuts in 12 markets, lays off around 100

#306

Post by technobabble »

yibg wrote: post #304
evv wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah? Depends how you define free will. If people want to eat and make rent, they need to afford it somehow, and the employment options are bleak (see: charging scooters). So maybe you meant they have "the free will to decide if they want to work shitty jobs, or not live". We can't be too surprised that the suicide rate is going up in this country.

That’s a weird definition of a slave and free will. By this definition none of us have free will since most things we do are driven by some motivation. I want to eat and make rent, so I work for the money to do so. Now I’m a slave?

If you hate your job, which has negative affects on your health, are you really free just because you get to choose what clothes you wear or what you have for lunch?

Re: Lime shuts in 12 markets, lays off around 100

#307

Post by catalogia »

imustbeevil wrote: post #271
catalogia wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was a kid I used to ride my leg-powered bicycle three miles to school. 5km on an e-scooter doesn't seem that far different. That's really not a long distance at all.

You need a drivers license for the dockless scooters, so there's no way for a child to legally ride one.

You don't need one for a kick scooter though, and exercise is good for kids.

Re: Lime shuts in 12 markets, lays off around 100

#308

Post by yibg »

Hasz wrote: post #127

This whole model is incredibly, impossibly, flawed. 9/10 times, my net displacement for the day is 0. If my net displacement is zero, I would prefer to own the medium I'm using to move. Bike, car, scooter etc. Only exception is stuff with really high capital costs, like planes and trains, in which case I pay a small fee to avoid owning a railway or airline. For scooters, there are no high capitals costs; the cost of…

But it’s not continuous net displacement. I go to a place, stay there for some time, go to another place etc until I eventually get home. Most of those places I go to don’t have a good place to park my bike / ebike/ scooter (but most do have nice places to park my car).

Re: Lime shuts in 12 markets, lays off around 100

#309

Post by yibg »

technobabble wrote: post #306
yibg wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a weird definition of a slave and free will. By this definition none of us have free will since most things we do are driven by some motivation. I want to eat and make rent, so I work for the money to do so. Now I’m a slave?

If you hate your job, which has negative affects on your health, are you really free just because you get to choose what clothes you wear or what you have for lunch?

Yes because I can choose to find another job. No one chained me to my desk.

Re: Lime shuts in 12 markets, lays off around 100

#310

Post by ryan_lane »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #217
jschwartzi wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't you ignoring the hundreds of billions in public subsidies that your "basic unsubsidized transit methods" enjoy? Cars are expensive and our emphasis on subsidizing car travel at the federal, state, county and city level is an enormous regressive tax on the poorest members of our society for whom $1000 or $5000 is an impossible amount of money.

Even if you make an apples to apples comparison (cost of renting a scooter vs cost of buying one outright), renting doesn't really make sense if it's something you want to use regularly. For a 10 minute commute daily commute, the break even point for buying a scooter vs renting one comes in less than 60 days.

This s only true if you are buying a good, reliable scooter, which requires a high up-front cost that many people can't afford.

Look up the boots theory of sociological unfairness. You're able to save money this way because you can afford something sturdy and reliable, whereas poor folks, if they buy something, buy something that is cheap and will break quickly. They'll need to do this over and over again, which in the end causes them to spend considerably more money than you.

Rental scooters (and bikes and e-bikes) may feel like they're more expensive in the end, but they're generally much cheaper, when you consider repairs or replacement, and especially when you consider theft (which will be covered by your insurance, but poor folks don't have that).

Also, most scooter/bike rental companies have outreach programs for poor communities, which drastically lower the cost, or provide service for free.

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