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Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

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Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#151

Post by lingzb »

sonofaplum wrote: post #140
paulddraper wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even so, this is still a win. 1. Scooters use far less energy than larger vehicles. 2. Generating energy from fossil fuels can be done more efficiently at a power plant than in a small engine. 3. When power generation is centralized, it is easier to substitute it for better, more efficient forms in the future.

does this calculus still work if each scooter only lasts 3 months, as is stated in the article?

That is a legit concern. Hopefully, they engineer these scooters to be more durable over time. Also, hopefully user etiquette improves over time as well so people abuse these scooters less, resulting in far longer life spans.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#152

Post by superfrank »

justinator wrote: post #104
superfrank wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I love the scooters and bikes these companies provide and I think you make a really good point about them being a positive disruption. It's pretty clear that there is a growing demand for ways to get around other than driving yourself. Lyft and Uber are great for covering distances, but have their issues. In busy metro areas it can often be quicker to walk than it is to drive if you're only going a mile a…

Privately owning a bike is not cost prohibitive, you know.

Privately owning a bike comes with a ton of hassles though.

- I live in a 570ft studio so storage space is limited. We have bike storage in my building, but it's $15 a month.

- If I go somewhere and bring the bike with me, I have to bring it back. If it starts raining, I can't just choose to leave the bike and take an Uber home.

- If I'm on a bike and I meet up with people that aren't, coordinating travel is a huge pain in the ass.

- I travel a lot and have been in 4 major cities this week. Having a bike at home helps there, but doesn't solve any problems in the other cities. Sharing services are great for visitors.

- Living in a major city, bike theft is a huge problem. By using shared bikes, I don't have to worry about that.

- On top of it all, Lime/Bird is just cheaper. I really only use one once every week or two. I've probably spent less that $30 this year on Lime/Bird. Even if I got a bike for free and it never needed any maintenance a decent U lock would cost more than that.

So yeah, I could own a bike, but these are more convenient and cheaper, so why would I?

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#153

Post by lingzb »

xenihn wrote: post #106
numair wrote: post #60

I have spent a lot of time observing this phenomenon in Venice; here are some of my thoughts. What these scooters have done for SM-Venice is, they’ve gotten people to park farther away and spend less time in cars. Especially the tourists. What does that mean for locals? Well, for one, it means that the nuisance of having to drive slow past people on these things, rather than the nightmare of sitting in standstill tra…

Being in an accident involving one owned by Bird/Lime/Uber seems like a legal/insurance nightmare, whether you're a pedestrian, rider, or driver.

Yes, but there's the same risk with conventional bikes on streets today. And cities like San Francisco agree - they are making it legal for adults to ride electric scooters _without_ helmets so that it matches regulation around bicycle helmets: https://la.curbed.com/2018/9/21/17884220/bird-lime-scooters-...

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#155

Post by chuckgreenman »

The problem with these scooters is that they are great as a user, but terrible for everyone else. They are a lot of fun to ride, but if you're just a regular old pedestrian they are a nightmare, people park them in the streets and pass by you way to quickly and closely on the sidewalk.

But riding them in the street pisses off drivers and is pretty dangerous, at least that's how it shakes out in Cincinnati.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#156

Post by cortesoft »

iso1337 wrote: post #120
cortesoft wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because lots of people derive value from a service does not give them carte blanche to push externalities onto everyone else. I mean, do you say "No no, you can't complain about all those chemicals being dumped into that river... look at all the value people are deriving from thing the factory is producing!"

Yes, there are externalities, but perhaps the question to ask is, are the externalities of scooters less than those of cars when solving the last mile problem in transportation? Cars and drivers, in my view, push MUCH more externalities onto everyone else (and let's not limit ourselves to thinking locally, all that CO2 we emit from driving disproportionately affects those in the third world and those yet unborn).

Yes, those are certainly good conversations to have. I agree we need to do a better job of handling the externalities created by cars.

I don't think we should be using the argument of 'well, the externalities for cars are worse' when deciding how to deal with the externalities of scooters, though. By that argument, we only have to ever make sure our externalities are better than the very worst offender in order to be beyond reproach.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#157

Post by i_feel_great »

fourmii wrote: post #50

These scooters and scooter companies seem pretty divisive, especially on HN. I understand they're operating in grey areas, I guess kinda like Uber before them, but they are causing (I think) positive disruption. I personally love these scooters. I'm living in Australia now where we don't have them. But last month I took a 3 week road trip from LAX to DC and back so I could hit cities I hadn't been to before. And in m…

Lime has been in Brisbane for a month now, and they are a menace to pedestrians. Whats more, it does not look like it is alleviating the traffic problems whatsoever.

I saw one pulled out of the Brisbane River the other day too.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#158

Post by mattbreeden »

qudat wrote: post #67
umvi wrote: post #3

Remind me again why they are allowed to litter all the public sidewalks and street corners with their scooters? Regulation hasn't caught up yet?

> litter all the public sidewalks Is it really that big of a nuisance? You literally walk around them, I don't see the issue. You should give them a ride one day to "see what all the fuss is about." They really are an incredible idea and allowing them to be "parked" anywhere is one of its main appeals.

People are comparing them to litter. You can also walk around trash, but you probably don't want trash everywhere. They're an eyesore and take up more space than a piece of trash. It makes the city look more 'dirty'. All they would have to do is have actual designated spaces for them to fix that, like how cars work.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#159

Post by lingzb »

sleepinseattle wrote: post #10

Interestingly I just noticed Lime-branded Fiat cars in Seattle for the first time yesterday. Looks like they're taking on Car2Go and ReachNow. Looks like it launched a couple weeks ago: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/bik...

I really want to try this. I think easy car sharing could be huge and it'd be amazing to be rid of the hassle that is car ownership (monthly parking, insurance, maintenance, etc.)

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#160

Post by kasey_junk »

bb2018 wrote: post #88
fourmii wrote: post #50

These scooters and scooter companies seem pretty divisive, especially on HN. I understand they're operating in grey areas, I guess kinda like Uber before them, but they are causing (I think) positive disruption. I personally love these scooters. I'm living in Australia now where we don't have them. But last month I took a 3 week road trip from LAX to DC and back so I could hit cities I hadn't been to before. And in m…

I could not be more upset that people who have stated progressive goals such as cutting down on fuel and providing cheap public transportation are against these. They are an absolutely great alternative that makes these goals possible without having to completely overhaul city designs. The only externality really seems to be they are parked in random places - but I don't see how that is any different than cars parked…

They are fairly commonly left in ways that make it difficult for pedestrians in wheel chairs/walkers/blind.
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