Here in SF, I use my electric skateboard almost everyday to commute.

The infrastructure has not caught up to them yet though. Many roads are in a terrible state. It is ok for cars or bikes, but skates have small wheels so you have to stay vigilant at all times. Even on the same street from one day to the next, some extremely large pothole might have appeared.

If bikes and skates had reserved lanes with :

- a barrier ! So cars can't park there and crazy drivers can't try to kill you (sadly it happens)

- good smooth pavement.

it would be way safer and could encourage many more people not to use a car.

Especially since SF does not have a good public transport system (that would be another thing to improve drastically)

Barriers for bike lanes are often counterproductive. There’s no way for street sweepers to clean them, so leaves and garbage accumulate, making them dangerous for bikes (and presumably impassible for skateboards).

Dedicated bike lanes exist in Europe, so I assume this is a solved problem and US cities could just buy whatever European municipalities use to clean bike lanes.

Street sweepers about the same width as a ride on lawn mower exist, they can easily get down separated lanes: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=mini+street+sweepers&iax=images&ia...

oh I did not think about that !

hmm, I would rather have street sweepers adapt to bike lanes than removing them

You really don't want to share a road with cars. I did not have someone swerve at me to hurt me yet, but I see that regularly on social networks (just a local bay area user group too .. not something national).

I already had cars accelerate until they are caught up with me, and then do something dumb like klaxon loudly or yell to hope to make me trip.

And of course multiple occurences of cars that think it is ok to cut up right in front of you and brake, or that want to overtake you when there is no space and there are literally less than 10 cms between you and the car.

So I would definitely rather have a secure lane .. even if it means that we must adapt cleaning equipment.

> I would rather have street sweepers adapt to bike lanes

That's what's done in the Netherlands, and I can confirm: it's far safer and comfortable to cycle in separate bicycle lanes, and it greatly encourages people to cycle.

If car drivers don't respect you I don't think the solution is to let them have all the road for themselves and put you away from their view. Fighting for the rights of cyclits by segregating them is like trying to fight sexism by having women wear a burka so that they do not provoke men!

My city deploys sidewalk sweepers that they use in the bike lanes.

>Honestly it just seems like neo-puritanical hatred of the idea that the motor makes it too easy.

More likely people are tired of clutter and blocked sidewalks. And riders who act like idiots.

Also, scooters (and even e-bikes) have different acceleration curves than road bikes.

If you are doing less than 20-25mph when cruising at speed, you’re impeding bike traffic. Scooters are currently capped at 15mph, so they don’t belong in bike lanes.

(Not saying there shouldn’t be scooter lanes, just that they don’t mix with bikes)

Bikes do not cruise at 20-25 unless you are hauling ass, more like 12mph for most people (and iirc that's the speed google maps bases it's bike estimates on). Most scooters I see pass bikes.

Have you considered buying your own scooter [1]? You can fold it and keep it in the trunk of your car. I bought a Xiaomi clone for $250 on Los Angeles craigslist and take it from Venice to the climbing gym in Culver City every week. It takes about 45 minutes which is faster than traffic on Venice Blvd or the metro.

[1] https://www.walmart.com/ip/Xiaomi-Mi-Electric-Scooter-18-6-M...

Walmart sells knock-offs? That looks like an original Xiomi and not a clone to me.

The linked one is original Xiaomi. I bought a clone off of Craigslist. The welding is not as nice and it uses MiniRobot app instead of Mi Home, but the battery and motor are holding up well. Here's a good video describing Xiamoi original vs. clone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiXiKr47T8g

The knockoff came from Craigslist.

I ate it on a JUMP bike going down Rose. It was out of zone and the only explanation that I can come up with is that it locked up the back tire. I ride bikes a lot and have no clue why I went down on that thing. I lost a ton of skin on my knee. I'm never touching one of those again. Geofencing transportation devices is crazy business. I need to trust the thing I'm riding.

There's nothing on a jump bike that can lock the rear wheel while in motion. The motor is in the front, and the brakes are operated by hand.

I have ate it on one while crossing train tracks while at max power, as that combination of circumstances can cause the front wheel to break traction, since there isn't traction control (yet).