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Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

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Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#261

Post by wpietri »

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…

I don't have any problem at all with people who own scooters. They seem great.

I have a lot of problems with a) companies seizing arbitrary amounts of public space for private businesses, b) venture-funded litter cluttering the streets, and c) novice scooter riders with no training turned loose on sidewalks I am trying to walk and not die on.

And I also have a lot of left-over ire for scofflaw companies. Yes, Uber got away with it. But no, would-be titans, that's not permission for you guys. It was a one-time trick.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#262

Post by zeendo »

dvt wrote: post #53
dboon wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was actually in Santa Monica / Venice area for the first time a few weeks ago. I was /floored/ with how many scooters there were. I live in Atlanta and find them to be super awesome and unintrusive, but I could understand how the sheer quantity could put you off of them. At least realize that they aren't so ridiculously overpopulated in other places -- it's probably the tourists that make it financially worth it to…

I was in Atlanta last month, and outside of Midtown (Tech/GSU), I didn't see them anywhere else. Here, we have them in SM/Venice, in Westwood, in Culver City, in DTLA, etc.

They're all over Atlanta. Midtown probably has the highest density of them but they're all over downtown, west midtown, Old 4th ward, Decatur, Reynoldstown, Cabbagetown, etc.

Go down Memorial or DeKalb heading east in the morning and you'll see rows and rows of them freshly set out ready to be kicked over like dominos by some jerk.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#263

Post by 0xADEADBEE »

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…

I must be in a bit of a minority but my main objection to these would be the installation of an app to use them - I am perhaps too privacy-conscious and admit I haven't attempted the signup process but even with a throwaway email address, I'm not comfortable installing it on a device I take with me when I leave the house; I even Uber via the web interface and would probably stop using the service if they hamstrung that more than it is already. Is this something other HNers concern themselves with?

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#264

Post by IshKebab »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #219
tjr225 wrote: post #197

I am a frequent user of lime bikes. I think they have a few drawbacks that make them difficult to use all the time however. Mostly: 1. Consistently Well Working Bikes can be hard to find 2. I often use these to get from the residential part of Seattle to the urban parts for date night... it can be very difficult to find two of these near each other. 3. They really need some sort of limited reservation system. This wo…

Bird is actually rolling out reservations, although I think it's more intended for daily users (they say they'll drop a scooter off on your doorstep every morning and only you can unlock it).

At that point why not just buy a scooter?

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#265

Post by ravenstine »

dvt wrote: post #28

I cannot stand the Limes and Birds around Santa Monica. I walk out of my apartment, and the streets are littered with them. It's annoying when walking, it's even more annoying when jogging, and riders are constantly riding them (without helmets) on sidewalks even though we have bike lanes. They're even a nuisance when driving. I'm hoping for some legislation that will ban them -- I might set up a grassroots campaign…

I live in Santa Monica and that sounds exactly like my experience. Don't you also love those hideous red bikes from Uber? haha Fortunately I'm seeing less of them.

At the very least, people should actually get licensed to ride these things. I know that it requires they have a driver's license, but that doesn't mean they're actually trained to ride these scooters around in traffic. At that rate, why even bother having licenses for motorcycle riders? A regular driver's license and training for a regular car is apparently all they need.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#266

Post by blhack »

madengr wrote: post #143
cwkoss wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Set up a shop buying and selling "secondhand scooter parts" - don't ask too many questions and you could make a nice profit while incentivizing others to dismantle their inventory.

I was thinking scrap value. Toss them in an industrial shredder, sans battery pack, then separate out the metals. Maybe a mobile shredder.

Why not do the exact same thing with cars? Heck, why not just break into people's homes and rob them while you're at it!

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#267

Post by blhack »

IshKebab wrote: post #264
Rebelgecko wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bird is actually rolling out reservations, although I think it's more intended for daily users (they say they'll drop a scooter off on your doorstep every morning and only you can unlock it).

At that point why not just buy a scooter?

Because then you have to worry about it getting stolen, and you have to remember to charge it. Part of the magic of the birds is that when you're done, you just get off of it and park. 0 anxiety about somebody stealing it.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#268

Post by dilap »

stingrae wrote: post #249
dilap wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't tried 'em in a bit, so to be fair, maybe it's better now. But last time I tried: Scooter coverage was too sparse to be useful. If you did try to chase down one of the sparsely scattered scooters, usually it would be missing. No way to make it play a sound to help locate it, no way to report it was missing. Gave up and just kept skating everywhere. Whereas I found Lime and Bird to be a practical alternative…

That sounds like a different issue. SF limited the number of scooters each company, Skip/Scoot, could deploy. When Bird and Lime launched in the city they had no limits, so they flooded it with scooters.

Good point.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#269

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#270

Post by xkcd-sucks »

Uehreka wrote: post #225
anonytrary wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Baltimore used to have a bike share, but I've heard it's being shut down and even when it was up they had a hard time keeping bikes in all the stalls. Sorry if these are stupid questions, but isn't this a problem with Bird? I see random birds all over the place. Can someone explain why bikes can't be left around randomly like a bird can?

Not a stupid question! The bikes in the Baltimore bike share (and I think also the NYC bike share) had electric motors that would work with the rider to make peddling easier. Thus they had to be left in charging “yokes” when you were done with them. As for why a non-powered bike couldn’t just be left around, here are a few thoughts: - As some people have mentioned, bikes are just bigger, and take up way more sidewalk…

Uhh the antitheft devices don't actually do anything, the police won't follow up on a good theft report, and passers-by don't care either. Literally all of the Chinese ebikes and escooters have standardized parts, so it's easy to sell parts or buy cheaper replacements. The lipoly cells themselves are also nice. I've personally converted birds back to stock xiaomi scooters for about $20usd per scooter (replace the "dashboard" board), which then sell for about $300. A few friends strip them for parts which is lucrative if you don't have much else going on
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