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Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

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Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#161

Post by r1nkgrl »

pfisch wrote: post #90
Uehreka wrote: post #27

I live in Baltimore and these things have been awesome. Over the summer and early fall, I used them a lot for trips that were between 3-15 blocks. They were usually less than half the price of a Lyft, were fun to drive, don't directly use fossil fuels and were usually available (in one app or the other) within a block or two of my house. I used them to meet friends for brunch, to pick up my car from getting worked on…

"don't directly use fossil fuels" Looks like Maryland uses a significant amount of coal to power their grid, so is this even a good thing?

Why is this post downvoted? They asked a relevant question which generated discussion.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#162

Post by Reedx »

bradlys wrote: post #136
briandear wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Helmets are important (I always wear one,) however, government ought not force people to wear them. Freedom still should matter. Grown adults should be able to make their own decisions. I support helmet laws for the under 18 crowd, but for grown adults? Too much nanny state for my liking.

One reason people might disagree is that you're pushing the externality of your own safety onto others. An example of an externality: those who don't wear helmets and crash are much more likely to have a brain injury (or death). This means that we all have to pay for your care now. In death (lack of taxes) or in financial damage. And in some cases like safety standards, people will also argue for emotional safety as…

Right, but isn't that also the case for people in cars? They get head injuries in car crashes that may have been prevented by wearing a helmet.

As for helmet laws, they have unintended consequences, such as fewer people riding bikes. Resulting in more cars/pollution and less exercise, less healthy population.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#163

Post by lingzb »

kerng wrote: post #6

Will be interesting if Uber or Lyft will postpone IPO in favor or buying one of them. Cant imagine it's possible to acquire one of them and still IPO in near future - but who knows. Exciting to see scooters and bikes get nice adoption! Changing the form factor to be more like a mini car (with at least a seat) would be neat, scooters just dont feel that safe.

Yes, I think whether Uber or Lyft (esp. Uber) can pull off such big acquisitions before their IPOs is the big big question on how this market shakes out.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#164

Post by mattbreeden »

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?

Maybe this is a little over the top in complaining, but it bothers me that they get to take up space in the city without paying rent/property taxes/etc.. like every other business that takes up space has to do.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#165

Post by baroffoos »

briandear wrote: post #82
hocuspocus wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

*Pedal. Some EU countries have already announced that scooters will soon be treated similarly to e-bikes, i.e. max 250W and 25km/h for the ones that don't need registration and plates. While more expensive and less portable, a bike is a lot safer and more versatile.

A bike is safer? Definitely need some citations for that. Versatility is debatable. I can fold my scooter and put it under my table at a restaurant or toss it into the trunk of a car. Scooters are also extremely low maintenance: no flat tires, no need to carry a pump or patch kit.

The bigger wheels give it much better stability. Hitting a hole or rock on a bike and a scooter is a very different experience. lots of the scooter steering setups make it very easy for the front wheel to suddenly turn 90 degrees and send you flying

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#166

Post by solarkraft »

jeffwass wrote: post #127
Relys wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because in the long term electric vehicles consolidate fossil fuel emissions to a single large point (coal in this case) which can be eventually replaced with a clean energy source (i.e. solar, wind, hydro, nuclear, etc.).

Additionally, the emissions of that consolidated power plant can be better filtered (eg particulates) than the corresponding thousands of disparate engines.

It's also not directly in the city.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#167

Post by skybrian »

cortesoft wrote: post #150
skybrian wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, rules, but probably not the same rules. Allocating space for scooter parking should be a lot easier than for cars, so fewer rules should be needed.

Sure, but that is kinda beside the point. My point is that we DON'T accept cars just parking everywhere, we decided on rules for where they need to park, and we need to do the same for scooters. Obviously the rules are going to be different because the vehicles are different and are used differently, but the rules will still have the same basic form: you are allowed to park in these areas, for this amount of time, fo…

Well, hopefully for free. There isn't usually a charge for using a bike rack.

Instead the scooter companies should charge for not leaving the scooter in a proper parking spot.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#169

Post by lucasmullens »

i_feel_great wrote: post #157
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.

How can you tell if it's alleviating traffic problems? I don't think the effect is large enough to tell through a gut check.
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