301–310 of 488 posts
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Uber stores the route of your trip anyway. So all info you withhold from them is the few meters walk from where you ordered to where you got picked up.
Probably stored indefinitely. Imagine 30 years from now, a company being able to go back and check on the current president's ride history when he was in his 20s.
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Curious thought: Disincentivize bad behavior. Scooter companies know who the last user was, so they could develop techniques to apply "parking violations." Whether that means GPS-enabled (sufficient resolution?) or crowdsourced (next rider taking picture) doesn't really matter. But this is like the automobile equivalent of a parking ticket.
What incentive would Lime and Bird have to do this? I think that'd have to come about through policy being passed in enough cities.
It's an entirely new mode of transportation; there are lots of fun things to try as we refactor our world. That's what startups do.
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People keep bringing up this problem because it's still a problem. If it's so easy to solve, why is it not solved? Cities should simply impound any scooter not properly parked and charge $200 to get it back. Since solving the parking problem is so easy, this will push Bird/Lime into finally solving it.
I think the other responses summarize the problem quite accurately. In fact, I alluded to it when I mentioned the littering of cars. People who park cars believe in an inherent first claim to all roadside space above other users and they are extremely aggressive in their resistance to even the slightest loss.
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What incentive would Lime and Bird have to do this? I think that'd have to come about through policy being passed in enough cities.
Right, this is what makes it an externality... Lime and Bird don't care about it, because the cost is born by people who are not customers. They have no incentive to fix the problem unless forced to.
Also: it's a fun exercise to go back in time and look at all the laws sponsored by automotive & oil companies to create today's car culture (case in point: streetcars). I assure you: there was a lot of protectionism & it wasn't always about the consumer.
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 th…
Can you do this?? Thanks, I had no idea!
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Not to mention $200+ to own a bike may not seem like a lot to you, but could be a lot to someone with low income. The capex cost can be prohibitive. Compared to a car, it's very cheap. Flat tires... hmm: I average about one a year, maybe. It's not the biggest deal. Are flat tires really that big of a barrier to entry?
Most people I know don't know how to, or couldn't be bothered to, change a bicycle tire. You have to also bring around a spare tire, a portable air pump, etc... or face the prospect of walking your bike somewhere. Perhaps we should differentiate here between bike ownership and these bike/scooter share approaches. Scooters also have flat tires. Compare ownership to a shared scooter or bike service, where these costs a…
That leaves parking, acknowledged and your risk of having the bike stolen is totally dependent upon where you are and what facilities are provided. Many work places are seeing the benefit of fit staff and are providing bike cages in the corporate carpark. Same with shower facilities so you dont stink the office out.
There are many excuses you can use against bike use, but most of them boil down to it being something you are not used to doing and to do it you need to change your habbits.
Anybody miss the days when companies were named something that was at least tangentially related to their function?
When was this? You might just be thinking it used to be that way because when a new company/product becomes successful, their brand name becomes the term for the thing. Kleenex Xerox Google Asprin Hoover https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark
> Looking for a term to differentiate its new system, Haloid coined the term xerography from two Greek roots meaning "dry writing".
"Aspirin" was named for the Spiraea ulmaria plant used in its synthesis.
"Borax" is sodium borate.
"Kleenex" helps keep your nose and face and surroundings clean.
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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 th…
I even Uber via the web interface Can you do this?? Thanks, I had no idea!
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 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…
>not sure how I feel about seeing them in piles outside of public schools Kids treat them like shit but what is there to do?
So now there’s this sort of quandary I have as a parent: do I tell my kids and or other kids to not play on these scooters? And to take care of them? Where should I draw the line?
I don’t see them in poor areas of town, so it’s like they exist in large part as an almost “parasite” on the good will of nice communities where they won’t be stolen or chopped up for parts. They’re here to make money for a private company.
In a public park or at the public library it’s easy to say: “this is here for our community, by our community, you need to take care of it because we’re all in this together.”
These scooters (despite their benefit) are ultimately taking money out of the community (if they’re profitable) and they’re budgeting for loss and damage, so why not let the kids play on them and damage them?