Trying out a new news search engine. It’s uncovered a bunch of things I’ve missed!
Influenced by Xiaomi design but far sturdier, larger wheels, more range, and a better dashboard display. Stylish and easy to spot from a distance.
Haasch: I rode exclusively electric scooters for a week. Here’s what I learned
While riding an electric scooter is just about the most fun you can have while running late to class, they ultimately make a difficult primary method of transportation. It was easy to pick up scooters on or near campus during the day, but I frequently ended up on long, frustrating trips trying to find scooters in my neighborhood in the mornings or on campus at night. Furthermore, while a scooter ride is certainly cheaper than an Uber or Lyft, it’s considerably more expensive than a bus pass. I spent about $50 over the course of the week, which is almost half the cost of a semester-long U-Pass.
Blame your local regulators. They limit the number of eScooters!
Why New York City Should Welcome Electric Scooters on Its Streets
Before unlocking the gates to the city to companies like Bird and Lime, New York will need to make changes and set some rules. In congested neighborhoods and near subway stations, scooters should be steered to designated parking areas so they don’t clutter the sidewalks. Initially, they should be launched not in midtown but in neighborhoods like Maspeth, in Queens, or Soundview, in the Bronx, where the nearest subway stop can be a 25-minute trudge or an erratic bus ride away. Electric scooters should be treated like bicycles: forbidden from sidewalks, pedestrian park paths, and playgrounds, encouraged to use bike lanes, and permitted on streets. But wait: What if they grow so popular that, like Ubers, they clog the streets of Manhattan and slow down traffic even more? Great! I’d like nothing better than to see flocks of Birds swarm Fifth Avenue, making it inhospitable for cars. Every black Escalade or Suburban that veers off a congested block in frustration makes room for half a dozen people on non-polluting, low-impact wheels. In the meantime, the more workers commute by scooter, the more pressure they will put on the city to provide protected lanes that are continuous, maintained, and free of police cars and delivery trucks.
Boldfaced emphasis added by me.
And that article has a killer final paragraph that must be read.
Rent a Xiaomi M365 eScooter for US$30/month. What? Sounds fishy.
Is New York City ready for the e-scooter revolution?
And while some might worry about scooter companies “imposing their will” on the city, the fact remains that car companies have already imposed their will on New York in a way that e-scooters could never possibly match. Besides, if you’re out on the street, you can already see the scooters are there. The same afternoon as the Bird demonstration, I saw a scooter rider salmoning on Ann Street, just blocks from City Hall. Later, I came across an e-scooter rider named Mike while I was walking down Flatbush Avenue.
Boldfaced emphasis added by me.
Previously here:
Chronological List Of Electric Scooter Posts
eScooters category
Mike Cane's Atomic Supermen 