Let's talk about e scooters

[baiskeli]

"Peter's Take" weekly column in ArlNOW is on e-scooters: https://www.arlnow.com/2018/08/23/pe...vehicle-pilot/ (posting does not necessarily constitute endorsement or agreement). For those not familiar with ArlNOW's weekly columnists, Peter's column seems to reflect the establishment Democratic point of view, since ArlNOW has a separate "Progressive" column.

As I recall, Peter's Take was supposed to be the liberal/progessive column to match the conservative one, but Peter came down so conservative on so many issues that they added the Progressive column. Just sayin. Thanks for the article.

[huskerdont]

Bike Snob NYC Outside article on sharable e-Scooters in Portland.

https://www.outsideonline.com/234080...-cons-bikesnob

[dasgeh]

A little late to this party but I will throw my .02 in here. I fully support scooters and e-bikes and want to see them in the bike lanes. Anything we can do to increase demand for "alternative transportation lanes" makes them more viable for the community. And scooters and e-bikes offer transportation to people that dont have or dont want access to cars. Yes the riders dont follow the law all the time and that is unfortunate. The same is true for drivers of large gas powered vehicles and that is unfortunate too.

Some people are a$$hats and they will be a$$hats on whatever tool they have available to them. Not news, and not a reason to be against escooters generally, in my book.

[lordofthemark]

https://sf.streetsblog.org/2018/08/2...fe-bike-lanes/

[Dewey]

Sobering article in the Post about e-scooters maintenance issues, I was surprised to read about the wide open throttle (WOT) problem, as an ebike owner I would have thought these scooters would have motor inhibitors on the brake levers to cut the power each time the rider pulls a brake lever. https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...=.03f0390e5ab4

[Dewey]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...=.f0127501a109

Awful, 20 is no age to die, reminds me of the young student run down and killed in a crosswalk by a car exiting Washington circle in Foggy Bottom a couple of years ago. Perhaps DC DOT could look into speeding up the timer on the light outside of rush hours so people aren’t waiting so long for the walk signal. Ought the scooter companies pay to educate riders by subsidizing e-scootering classes? Something like the WABA City cycling class with new drills for riding an e-scooter on sidewalks, in traffic, and navigating traffic circles.

[hozn]

This e-scooter craze is intriguing. From a transportation perspective this makes so much more sense to me than bike-share e-bikes (or non-assist bike-share bikes): they go fast enough, are far more compact/maneuverable, can be ridden more places (even if they shouldn't be), and have a lower barrier to entry. If you're trying to just save time on a couple-mile errand, who wants to actually pedal a damn bicycle!? I mean, it's not going to do anything to further cycling itself, so *we* might be sad, but honestly even I would rather use an e-scooter than an e-bike if it's just about speeding up pedestrian transportation. And it's not like an e-bike is doing anything to further the sport of cycling, so no love lost there. Sure, bikes could haul more stuff, so maybe we'll see some bikeshare e-cargo bikes that might differentiate themselves. But that's still gonna be a tiny percentage of the people who want to speed up their walk to the metro or the drug store.

It's a bit funny that e-bikes have been such a point of controversy. The real future of e-assist transportation probably looks a lot more like this.

And, yeah, it's also going to generate its due share of controversy. Just the other evening in Clarendon a couple of dudes in brown flipflops were zigzagging through peds on the sidewalk at 12+mph like a bunch of jackasses. Hey, maybe it'll shift the target of all the hatred away from bikes.

[Drewdane]

I finally came across one outside my office yesterday and decided to give it a try. It was mildly terrifying, but nothing I couldn't get used to. I did come away with the impression that CaBi and plain ol' hoofing it are all the options I really need, though. YMMV.

[TwoWheelsDC]

This e-scooter craze is intriguing. From a transportation perspective this makes so much more sense to me than bike-share e-bikes (or non-assist bike-share bikes): they go fast enough, are far more compact/maneuverable, can be ridden more places (even if they shouldn't be), and have a lower barrier to entry. If you're trying to just save time on a couple-mile errand, who wants to actually pedal a damn bicycle!? I mean, it's not going to do anything to further cycling itself, so *we* might be sad, but honestly even I would rather use an e-scooter than an e-bike if it's just about speeding up pedestrian transportation. And it's not like an e-bike is doing anything to further the sport of cycling, so no love lost there. Sure, bikes could haul more stuff, so maybe we'll see some bikeshare e-cargo bikes that might differentiate themselves. But that's still gonna be a tiny percentage of the people who want to speed up their walk to the metro or the drug store.

It's a bit funny that e-bikes have been such a point of controversy. The real future of e-assist transportation probably looks a lot more like this.

And, yeah, it's also going to generate its due share of controversy. Just the other evening in Clarendon a couple of dudes in brown flipflops were zigzagging through peds on the sidewalk at 12+mph like a bunch of jackasses. Hey, maybe it'll shift the target of all the hatred away from bikes.

I seem to remember reading an article a few weeks ago that judged e-bikeshares were ultimately the fastest, followed by e-scooters (I may have that backward...it was close either way, and now I can't find the article). I haven't tried a scooter yet (personally I would get on a Jump or CaBi+ before a e-scooter), but my understanding is that scooters are not suited to going up hills of any kind. So around downtown they may be okay, but if you're going up to Columbia Heights or something, you'll want to grab a Jump or CaBi+.

[n18]

Few days ago, I observed someone taking his folding Bird-like eScooter on Metro. It took a lot less space than a folding bike. So, I am going to start recommending them.