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Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

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Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#361

Post by Cristian_knur »

bllguo wrote: post #81
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 know bird is hq'ed in santa monica, so that would partly explain the numbers

Partially. We are also in Venice, Culver City and Compton.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#362

Post by scarejunba »

pandesmos wrote: post #354
scarejunba wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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? This is pretty much the same argument as people who litter at ball games and then say "The cleaning crew will pick it up. That's their job."

Maybe, and maybe that's part of why it's bothering me. I don't have a frame in which to easily sit it. I think that's a good analogy, but it's not quite right imo. The important factor for me is that, in this specific case the distributor (or whoever is putting them out) is placing them directly in front of a school. Potential consumers of the service are socially expected to do work to maintain something they didn't…

If someone parks their car across two spaces and I hit it, should I feel bad? What if someone does it every day in the apartment parking lot?

By the way, would you mind photographing the situation here? I think I might change my mind based on how much space these things are taking. My experience in SF is that people go out of their way to have them be in their way. But I may be judging you unfairly to be doing the same.

If there's lots of room, I feel the same about the scooter as I do about the hot dog man.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#363

Post by ams6110 »

gibolt wrote: post #340
guelo wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> don't directly use fossil fuels I feel like this is a bit of misleading marketing since a ton of fossil fuel is used to round them up and distribute them around town every day.

A huge number of chargers (the people) ride the scooters and stack them on the one they are riding. Even if a vehicle is used, it is nowhere near the fuel consumed by all the scooter trips combined. It collects multiple and is only after several days per scooter.

I saw a guy riding two simultaneously, one foot on each. Didn't look very controllable to me but he seemed practiced.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#364

Post by anonytrary »

stingrae wrote: post #349
kough wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it ok to steal from the rich (nation-state and ultra-wealthy investors) to help the poor (me)? If I could steal a million dollars out of YC's checkbook I would do it in a heartbeat, wouldn't you?

I am pretty surprised to see comments like this on HN. Advocating theft and robbery is not ok.

This thread is full of oddities. Some people here think it's OK for you leave your scooter/bike on a private business's property without consent, because the "businesses should like having a signal attracting people to their property". Like, when did consent stop being a thing, and who is anyone to tell me what I want or don't want for my own business?

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#365

Post by ams6110 »

aantix wrote: post #284
0xADEADBEE wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Isn't it exhausting to live like that? Will convenience ever win out for you? This is a serious question.

I find it liberating. When things are too convenient you tend to do a lot of worthless stuff. When there is a little bit of planning and difficulty involved, it helps prioritize. I don't have data on my mobile device either so I'm not sure I could even use the scooters.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#366

Post by davelondon »

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…

> I have spent a lot of time observing this phenomenon in Venice

For half a second I had this vision of Lime jet-skis piling up and blocking the canals of Venice, Italy.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#367

Post by [deleted] »

anonytrary wrote: post #193
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…

> 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?

[deleted]

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#368

Post by torgian »

Reading the comments here make me chuckle. I honestly find it mind boggling that people would complain of bicycles taking up space, let alone scooters.

I love the bike share programs in Taiwan and China. I haven’t used a car in years. Yeah some people trash the bikes but most people at least seem to give a shit.

Why this is such an issue in the West, I can’t understand...

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#369

Post by ams6110 »

lingzb wrote: post #151
sonofaplum wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think if anything the etiquette will get worse. I've already heard of people throwing bunches of them in dumpsters, then when the dumpster is picked up and compacted the batteries catch fire setting the entire load of garbage on fire.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#370

Post by ams6110 »

beerlord wrote: post #317
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.).

Plus transporting about 80kg of human, scooter and baggage is much less weight than human, car and baggage. It would be interesting to calculate the MPG of these, including the overnight recharging and repositioning done inside a van.

What is the injury rate, compared to cars?
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