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Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

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Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#421

Post by quickthrower2 »

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.

But 10 years ago we all lived like that. Definitely 20.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#422

Post by ryanwaggoner »

tuxxy wrote: post #277
qudat wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People drive them on the sidewalks Where else would they drive them? On the road? They would just contribute to the thousands of cyclists that die or are seriously injured every year. If you are suggesting that every electric vehicle be banned because sidewalks are for pedestrians only then I disagree. Streets are for cars only, don't let these fake bike lanes fool you.

The sidewalk is a far more statistically dangerous place for cyclists (and scooters, by extension). Here's an FAQ from Cornell on this: http://www.bike.cornell.edu/pdfs/Sidewalk_biking_FAQ.pdf

That certainly doesn’t show that it’s far more dangerous.

In every scenario listed, a minority of motorist / cyclist accidents at intersections involved a cyclist on the sidewalk. Meaning that the majority of such accidents occurred where the cyclist was not on the sidewalk.

We actually don’t have enough info from that to say which is safer. If 99% of cyclists ride in the sidewalk, but the 1% who don’t make up more than half the accidents, I’d say riding on the sidewalk is far safer.

I’m not necessarily disagreeing with your conclusion. I just don’t like the use of faux data to show a conclusion that feels right.

98% of kids with autism were vaccinated in the prior three years!

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#424

Post by maxk42 »

scarejunba wrote: post #346
maxk42 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially hurtful to people who have limited mobility and get around with a wheelchair, walker, crutches, or have trouble bending down to move them out of the way. On top of that I've seen them left in bushes, in the street taking up parking space, or blocking doors or gates.

I don't see what's wrong with them taking up parking space. Considering mean occupancy of cars in America, the street parked scooter is doing just as well in serving one individual as a street parked car. In fact, I'd argue we should remove more parking spots and switch them to scooter spots.

In Hollywood if you take up a parking space with a scooter instead of turning it sideways so a car can still fit you are a massive dick. Parking is a very limited resource here.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#425

Post by ZoomZoomZoom »

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…

>>They’re completely dorky and I’ll never be caught dead on one

Sorry for asking, but are you thirteen?

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#426

Post by anonytrary »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #408
anonytrary wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would imagine it would be a lot easier for civilians to host scooter waypoints at their residence. Bike docks seem like more effort, I can't seem them being a popular option for homes. At scale, the idea is that half of the houses in a neighborhood would host hubs for scooters. At high hub densities, the distinction between docked and dockless becomes negligible, however the hub solution has the added benefit of pe…

I don't understand why you think anyone would do this, but I am also not sure that it would be any more legal to run a scooter rental hub at most homes than it is to put a pile of scooters on the sidewalk.

Sorry, why do you think it's a rental hub? It's not a rental hub, you're simply giving Bird riders consent to use your property to drop their scooters off (as opposed to them dropping their scooters off on a random person's property, which bypasses consent and is far worse). All of the rental happens between Bird and the rider, you're just giving people permission to leave scooters on your lawn. It's an opt-in rather than opt-out system, which is how it should be.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#427

Post by lozenge »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #351
anonytrary wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suggested elsewhere in the thread, it'd be neat if they included a fourth class in the model: hub owners, in addition to the existing classes of supplier (Bird), riders (customers) and the chargers. The hub owners would register their places (private residence, business, campus, city area, etc.) as bird hubs, and people would only be allowed to ride birds between hubs. This would solve the "trash/get-off-my-lawn" p…

You know bike shares with docks is a super common existing model, and dockless bike share is specifically built as an improvement to that?

There are services that will credit your account if you leave the bike in a designated dock area, but you can still leave it in other areas.

This improves on docks in that the "dock" can just be a geofence with a few lines painted on the ground, whereas traditional docks are very sturdy and hence expensive.

This improves on dockless in that it's a more reliable place to pick up bikes, and still gives you the freedom of leaving your bike in other places.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#428

Post by NatW »

lingzb wrote: post #153
xenihn wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being in an accident involving one owned by Bird/Lime/Uber seems like a legal/insurance nightmare, whether you're a pedestrian, rider, or driver.

Yes, but there's the same risk with conventional bikes on streets today. And cities like San Francisco agree - they are making it legal for adults to ride electric scooters _without_ helmets so that it matches regulation around bicycle helmets: https://la.curbed.com/2018/9/21/17884220/bird-lime-scooters-...

> the same risk with conventional bikes

I think the scooters are riskier in some ways. My experience is with bikes you can easily take one hand off the bike to signal a turn - what your traffic intention is. But with the scooters, it's not really possible to take your hands off the handlebars (you lose control!), and there is currently no blinker control to indicate your traffic intention. I wanted to take a left-turn on a scooter recently and this was an issue. I got honked-at.

I think they should add blinker light controls to the handlebars.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#429

Post by Lubnah »

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.

It is not at all exhausting. It's not even on the level of crossword puzzles.

The only thing that gets tiresome is the realization that every company is trying to exhaust you. That the goal itself, is indeed, to wear you down.

Once you realize that's the name of the game, you fight it differently.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#430

Post by NatW »

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.

My experience is with bikes you can easily take one hand off the bike to signal a turn - what your traffic intention is. But with the scooters, it's not really possible to take your hands off the handlebars (you lose control!), and there is currently no blinker control to indicate your traffic intention. I wanted to take a left-turn on a scooter recently and this was an issue. I got honked-at.

I think they should add blinker light controls to the handlebars.

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