Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Rise of the Electric Scooter

blog.codinghorror.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 339 posts

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#241

Post by driverdan »

djrogers wrote: post #52
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.

At 25MPH, a tiny crack or lip in the concrete would equal a very expensive faceplant. And it's not really even a matter of skill or reflexes - the tiny wheels of the current electric scooters are just not capable of handling imperfections at speed.

They go over tiny cracks and lips just fine. It's potholes and large cracks that are a big problem. You learn to watch for and avoid them, just like you would on a skateboard.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#242

Post by driverdan »

clairity wrote: post #54
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.

25 mph makes sense on the road (same with pedal-assist electric bikes), but on sidewalks 15 mph is definitely fast enough given the small wheels and lack of a suspension. even what look like small cracks/potholes can throw you off the scooter if you’re not paying attention.

You shouldn't be riding them on sidewalks, especially not at 15mph.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#243

Post by driverdan »

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.

Why do you care what other people think?

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#244

Post by strifey »

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 basically had the same experience but picking up skateboarding again. I spent a lot of time skateboarding as a kid, and it turns out it's also a really efficient, compact way of getting around a city too! I now feel a lot more comfortable moving further away from BART while maintaining a consistent commute time.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#245

Post by fragmede »

crimsonalucard wrote: post #85
tick_tock_tick wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have the deal with the bike afterwords. Go for brunch in the mission and your friends are going back to the outer sunset with a scooter just fold it up and put it in the car with a bike either hope it's there when you get back, bike all the way, or go home then head over alone.

Get a brompton.

While the folding bike concept is cool, and it's actually really handy to be able to take them on trains where a non-folding would be disallowed, and while they are also more convenient than a full size bike, they're still big and cumbersome when folded up.

I can take mine on the bus, but that wouldn't be my first choice. I can take a regular Lyft, but not a Lyft Line with it. (I mean I could, but that's a dick move.) You're "that guy" at the bar after work.

Like I said, I own one (well, a Dahon), and it's definitely useful, more convenient than a full size, non-folding bike, but it doesn't actually solve the issue, merely alleviates it somewhat.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#246

Post by molodec »

zemvpferreira wrote: post #229
molodec wrote: post #180

Ok, I understand that there is a lot of benefits to electric scooters. They are fun, convenient, and allow to navigate quickly, and great for the environment, or at least better than cars. Why not driving regular bicycles? Obesity is a growing problem, because people don't exercise enough. Mechanical bicycle is a great low impact activity for modern life. Also, bicycles aren't generally allowed on a sidewalk, but I h…

Concerned people have collectively been banging the ride-more-bicycles drum for decades. It hasn't worked. It doesn't even matter why, it's obvious at this point that commuters at large won't use them given a powered alternative. Why keep butting our head against that wall instead of supporting something people will actually use? (I commuted via bike for years and as fun as it is it's beyond impractical. Parking, hea…

The majority of people will indeed prefer powered bicycle and scooters if available. There are some countries and cities where there many people using bikes for their daily commute. The scooters are too small and underpowered for riding on the streets, and at the same time using them on the sidewalk can be dangerous for pedestrians, so I am not sure where they fit in the transportation picture.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#247

Post by jdavis703 »

dredmorbius wrote: post #195
jdavis703 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> bikes require planning and strategy What? I don't plan or strategize any more or less than someone getting in a car might think about the optimal rush hour route.

A car can be parked on the street (at least in theory, I'm aware SF's parking may be less amenable), and has a high likelihood of being there and intact when you return. Without bike-parking infrastructure -- ubiquitous racks -- bikes are far less likely to be found where left, and far more likely to be damaged, vandalised, and/or have components nicked. I've lived where cycling was well-supported and routes and rack…

> bikes are far less likely to be found where left, and far more likely to be damaged, vandalised, and/or have components nicked.

I don't own a car anymore, but when I did I had countless break ins. Most times nothing was taken. Petty theft & vandalism is a problem here regardless of vehicle type.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#248

Post by coredog64 »

maccam94 wrote: post #173
eldenbishop wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This exactly: bikes require planning and strategy and are not good for improvisational day-to-day things like you described. Bikes make walking easier but all other forms of travel like bus, train or taxi/uber/cars more difficult or impossible.

Dockless and docked bikeshare programs both mitigate this issue, with trade-offs on the inconvenience of finding bikes/parking them.

Citibike in NYC is a dumpster fire. Same price as subway ride for a 30 minute ride. Each ride segment has to be 30 minutes or less or they start charging you by the minute. You can’t check out more than one bike on a single account. The full docks don’t correctly report in, meaning even though the dock is full, you can’t get a time extension while you go out of your way to return the bike.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#249

Post by zemvpferreira »

molodec wrote: post #246
zemvpferreira wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Concerned people have collectively been banging the ride-more-bicycles drum for decades. It hasn't worked. It doesn't even matter why, it's obvious at this point that commuters at large won't use them given a powered alternative. Why keep butting our head against that wall instead of supporting something people will actually use? (I commuted via bike for years and as fun as it is it's beyond impractical. Parking, hea…

The majority of people will indeed prefer powered bicycle and scooters if available. There are some countries and cities where there many people using bikes for their daily commute. The scooters are too small and underpowered for riding on the streets, and at the same time using them on the sidewalk can be dangerous for pedestrians, so I am not sure where they fit in the transportation picture.

The hundreds of thousands of people using them (who would never regularly use a bike) seem to disagree that they don't fit in the picture. Why go against a solution that takes cars off the road? Sure let's get scooters off the sidewalks, that's insane. Over here in Lisbon there are plenty of people riding them on streets and (previously deserted) bike lanes.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#250

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN