Scooter sharing

Scooter sharing became popular (Lime/Bird electric scooters), for about $1.00+0.15/minute to ride.

Scooter sharing became popular (Lime/Bird electric scooters), in San Jose). They're basically both the same $1.00+0.15/minute to ride. It is definitely handy for trips too short to want to call a cab, but you want to get there quicker than walking. While I've never really used Razers or other inline non-electric scooters, it was completely natural and easy.

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~ Aristotle Sabouni
Created: 2018-04-22

Both also go the extra mile (pun intended), they have an affiliate program so that you can earn money by collecting, charging and deploying the scooters. ($5/each). If you have a panel van or pickup, you could probably do OK in the gig economy, assuming you're also driver for Uber/Lyft and renting a room out using AirBnB.

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This isn't that different than the bike sharing... just less pedaling. These things don't have a lot of torque, but if you push off a couple times, they can keep you moving at a good clip. (I think the Lime ones are quicker). Honestly, one rock or pothole, and you're going tail over tea-kettle.

There's a bit of a sham in that they claim "use a helmet"... but noone carries a helmet with them. I've seen lots of people tooling around on them, never seen one with a helmet yet. And like all things, there's idiots out there. I've seen people riding on the sidewalk recklessly, or the street recklessly as well. But I figure you just take the warning stickers off of everything and let Darwin sort it all out. They will come in handy occasionally, but a spill would be most unpleasant.

Segway - I figure business wise, these things are a lot more cost effective than Segway's -- as these are cheaper, lighter, simpler, and nearly as easy to ride. So at what I'd guess is $250 BOM (Bill of Materials / Cost to make one), you can litter them everywhere, and use sharing in a way that was never going to be cost-effective with $5,000+ Seway's. So poor Dean Kamen, he had a pretty good idea about cheap, battery operated personal urban transport... he just over-engineered it. And we didn't have a gig/sharing economy yet, for him to even fathom the sharing business model. Most people know how to ride a scooter, or can figure it out in 30 seconds. A Segway is fairly intuitive, but it does take a few minutes to get the hang of -- and is far more complex engineering wise. The bigger wheels likely make it a little safer from curbs and the like... but scooters with bigger wheels wouldn't be that hard either.

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