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Never mind the bikes: Here come the rental scooters
By adamg on Fri, 07/20/2018 - 2:53pm
Scooters on the loose.
John Christian spotted these electric scooters for rent at Assembly Row in Somerville today - after being banned, at least temporarily, in San Francisco.
The Globe reports these Bird scoooters, which can be unlocked for riding via a smartphone app, got dropped in Somerville, Cambridge and Providence today. The Globe quotes a Somerville city spokesperson who said the DPW will round them up for disposal if they get left in places where they'd impede pedestrians, cyclists or motor vehicles.
In San Francisco, the scooters suddenly showed up as well, several months ago. City offcials ordered thm off the streets until they could figure out what to do about problems that included people riding them on sidewalks, blocking sidewalks and vandalizing them.
Boston, at least has a precedent for possible scooter regulation: Rules, established several years ago, that ban Segway tours from city sidewalks.
Spotted some Bird scooters at Harvard today. Have they launched in Boston? @universalhub pic.twitter.com/1ABL7IE3Dq
— Connor Ring (@ConnorRing_) July 20, 2018
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Comments
Bird is the Word
But the Green Bike Fleet is far more useful at Trader Joes and Wegmans. Seeing more of these weighted down with grocery bags on the bike paths lately.
Im actually
Pumped for these, im not biking around town in a suit during the weekday.
Electric scooter, sign me up!
Can't wait for the war between the bikes and the scooters
We needed another transportation method to shake things up in our civic conflict space. These things are really mobile data collection machines. But maybe the bikes are too!
Depends how fast you bike
Do I wear a suit on my road bike? No.
Do I wear a suit on my mountain/city bike? Generally not; and if I do I'm real careful to roll the pant legs up and don't go fast.
Do I wear a suit on a Hubway? Sure. As long as I ride reasonably slowly and it's not way too hot, it's no problem. Unless the weather is lousy and I don't want to get wet, but I can't imagine these are going to do much better.
(My other question is stability; I've never been able to easily ride a scooter or skateboard, but maybe these are easier, and maybe it's just me.)
Should have clarified
During the dog days of summer. I’ll hope on a Hubway during the spring/fall in a suit, when it’s 90 out with 80% humidity, hard pass.
That photo
Tripping hazard. Then obstructing wheelchairs of the people it maimed when it tripped them. This company is going to get sued out of business.
After it's sued to death, if VCs have any decency, they won't reward the founders by counting their previous startup as valuable experience towards their next. Instead, force the founders to get the shitty entry level jobs they deserve.
Fine then
Cities and towns need to start providing parking for bikes, scooters, and motorscooters.
Get rid of a few parking places like they did in Davis, where 40 vehicles park in the space of two cars.
Let's see if they can work here
Welcome Bird!
Having transportation options is great. Let's not assume that this will be a problem. Give them a chance before we all deem them a hazard.
Worse
These are even worse than the dockless bikes. At least the dockless bikes are still bikes. Now when you're on a bike using what little bike infrastructure cycling advocacy groups have fought hard for over the years you will have to contend with idiots on motorized devices that have no business being on a bike path or in a bike lane.
So, your argument is that a different two wheeled vehicle than a
traditional bicycle shouldn't be permitted to use a bike path or bike lane because it's unsafe to allow them on"your hard won turf". Even though bicyclists insist on encroaching on the "turf" (travel lanes and sidewalks) used by other vehicles or pedestrians all the time in the name of "safety".
Yes
Yes
Motorcycles, segways, mopeds and scooters should not use bicycle lanes or paths. They have motor vehicle lanes for powered vehicles, which they can and should use.
So by your logic motorcycles
So by your logic motorcycles be allowed in bicycle lanes?
Speed is the issue
Cyclists in cities typically travel about 12-15 mph. If we are now sharing the bike paths and lanes with electrically powered vehicles going 25 mph, that could cause problems.
You will find that people
You will find that people riding this type of scooter will typically be going even more slowly than 12-15 mph. For one thing they often top out around 10 mph especially for riders nearing 200 lbs. Besides, you really wouldn't want to go faster as it wouldn't feel safe. I have an e-bike and it's top speed is 15mph but I wouldn't go that fast when around other riders, vehicles or people. I can't say there will never be a foolish punk that will be reckless because just like with bicycles and skate boards there's always one or two -- but they just need to be given citations to pay and that should smarten them up. Personally I am in my 50s and my heart isn't so great so a regular bike even when ridden conservatively often gets me too out of breath but I do want exercise and the ebike lets me get that and then have a bit of assistance when I need it.
It's a two-way street
It's a two-way street bub. Hop on a bike and see for yourself what it's like to stick to the bike lane on some of this fine city's corridors, with car doors haphazardly swung open and vehicles cutting in willy-nilly.
Maybe then you'll have a better sense of why some cyclists insist on encroaching on your sacrosanct traffic lane.
You see a scooter.
I see a space saver.
These things are going to suck in the snow.
I see toxic battery waste
I see toxic battery waste about to find itself dumped in local rivers and the harbor by neverdoers
LOLOLOL
In the tone of Carol Ann from Poltergeist....
"They're heeeerrrrreeeeeee"
They've been coming from the west.. friends of mine in SF were complaining about them last year, then earlier this year friends in Atlanta were complaining..... so much so the city is quickly passing ordinances and hiring 'scooter maids' (similar to meter maids) to deal with them.
You think the dockless bikes are bad, just wait.. from what I've seen elsewhere, scooters are even worse.
Highland Ave. Somerville
Saw one tonight resting against a sidewalk tree. Didn't know what is was, but it was eye-catching because it looked like something semi-valuable that was left unattended and unlocked.
These are awesome
Witnessed these first hand in Santa Monica. Everyone will complain at first until they realized how useful they are to supplement our awful excuse for a public transportation system