Re:Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition
by godzillabrennus on Monday April 09, 2018 @05:53PM
(#16797321)
Living in SF these days and up until a week ago I thought the same way. I serendipitously had an opportunity to try a Bird electric scooter. I was heading to a meeting a few blocks away and one happened to be parked outside of the building I was leaving. It was far enough that I would have normally used Uber to get there but not far enough that I couldn't have walked if I didn't have to rush over. Long story short, I grabbed the App, started the scooter, and really enjoyed the ride over. It cost a fraction of the Uber ride and got me there faster.
I've been seeing these scooters popping up all over SF including Lime and Spin branded ones.
I hope to see more of them spring up as a viable alternative to using a car to get everywhere. Though I see the lack of helmets being included with these as a disaster waiting to happen.
Re:Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition
by fstuff on Monday April 09, 2018 @09:40PM
(#16798387)
Yea I've never seen anyone riding with a helmet on these scooters. U see them all over south park bear the ball park.
I've rode a personal electric scooter for over a year now and I can say a helmet is a must. The biggest dangers I've seen is clueless uber/ lyft drivers cutting you off (happens a lot) and pot holes / cracks in the pavement. They travel at 10+ mph so if you hit a big enough pot hole your going to eat it.
ebike sales are growing rapidly and in general will start to shape cities in europe very rapidly. That will trickle over to the US in a lot of the big cities that are already dense, and then shift over to the less dense but flatter cities (think LA!)