Lime and Bird are growing rapidly • Hacker News Board

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#471

Post by asdff » Tue, Dec 04, 2018, 9:42 PM UTC

the_clarence wrote: post #389

lbacaj wrote: post #201

Facts are facts but to me this always seemed like the dumbest idea. I thought it was a dumb idea before the City Bike program was introduced here in NYC then I thought so many people would get hurt with the way Cabbies drive out here. Fast forward a few years and the program is a huge success here in NYC, there was some accidents but no where near what I thought there would be. People obviously love Biking and I was…

It’s hard to grasp for older generations because everyone had to drive. But less and less people have a driver license nowadays in large cities.

Cars are fundamentally, egregiously inefficient. Most of their use comes from one person going to one place using one of their 5+ seats, yet automakers have to design an engine powerful enough to move 5+ people, and the 3000lbs of the car. A scooter only needs enough energy to move one person plus the 15lbs of the scooter. Older generations are blind to this fact because their entire life they've been sold the idea that they need to buy and spend money moving and storing a 3000lb hunk of metal with them every single day. Imagine paying money to go somewhere, knowing full well the major percent of that money is going to move a ton+ of material, and only a fraction is spent to move your physical body; you'd be outraged, but that is what a car is.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#472

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Dec 04, 2018, 9:43 PM UTC

F_r_k wrote: post #379

r1nkgrl wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is this post downvoted? They asked a relevant question which generated discussion.

Because their question is old, was refuted a thousand times, and was used by pro ICE vehicles to spread misinformation

[deleted]

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#473

Post by anonytrary » Tue, Dec 04, 2018, 10:16 PM UTC

anonytrary wrote: post #259

rcpt wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shouldn't a business like having a signal attracting someone to their store?

I can't tell if this is sarcasm. You don't get to decide what goes on someone else's property, it's simply not your property.

Honestly, the downvotes here surprise me a lot. I always thought the HN community was in support of private property laws.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#474

Post by atomical » Tue, Dec 04, 2018, 10:40 PM UTC

pandesmos wrote: post #310

jayd16 wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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?

This is the thing that bothers me. They appear to be getting set out in front of my kid’s school (in sets of 4), and it’s the natural inclination for kids to want to run jump and play on them. 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…

I have to think it's going to be harder and harder for theft to occur. The GPS, cell network, and constant iteration on the design is going to make it very hard for thieves.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#475

Post by madengr » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 12:47 AM UTC

blhack wrote: post #266

madengr wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

Sidewalks are usually right-of-way private property. Dumping scooters in them, might as well be litter.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#476

Post by pfisch » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 6:35 AM UTC

MBlume wrote: post #470

ams6110 wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the injury rate, compared to cars?

Scooters cause far fewer injuries than cars do

Per capita? I’m not so sure about that. Especially in San Francisco.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#477

Post by pfisch » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 6:38 AM UTC

F_r_k wrote: post #379

r1nkgrl wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is this post downvoted? They asked a relevant question which generated discussion.

Because their question is old, was refuted a thousand times, and was used by pro ICE vehicles to spread misinformation

I mean how could it be that old? These scooters are a new thing that are trashed and replaced every 3 months.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#478

Post by ZoomZoomZoom » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 9:05 AM UTC

6cd6beb wrote: post #457

ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>They’re completely dorky and I’ll never be caught dead on one Sorry for asking, but are you thirteen?

I'm in my early thirties and feel the same way. A lot of people do. Looking at something and saying "I don't think I would do that because it would be very embarrassing" is a thing adults can do.

>> Looking at something and saying "I don't think I would do that because it would be very embarrassing" is a thing adults can do.

And its exactly a moment when one should stop for a second and ask him/herself a question "why would I feel so"?

Wearing glasses, reading books, dyeing hair with some tint, preferring pieces of clothing of some fashion or other, riding a personal vehicle that is supposedly beneficial for ecology (at least at the level of common knowledge) AND evidently improving quality of urban life - all of that shouldn't be embarrassing, or "completely" "socially inept"[1]. Wearing dirty clothes when you have the means not to or not looking after your hygiene should (and I can't really recall anything else at a moment's notice).

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/dorky

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#479

Post by esotericn » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 12:16 PM UTC

maxk42 wrote: post #424

scarejunba wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Can't you just like, get out of the car, move it, then park?

If it's a shared resource like a Bird scooter then there's no moral quandary about "touching other people's stuff" that would make sense for an actual person's property.

The company doesn't care, there's no-one that even can care.

Re: Lime and Bird are growing rapidly

#480

Post by jobigoud » Wed, Dec 05, 2018, 2:51 PM UTC

NatW wrote: post #428

lingzb wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-tur…

Could you drive one footed and extend the other leg? Sorry I've never ridden a scooter. But you can ride a skateboard on one foot for short periods with some training.