Bird launched in Nashville last week and there was a serious accident right away:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2018/05/14/women-electric-scooters-injured-downtown-nashville-hit-and-run-crash/606639002/

 

These dockless bike and scooter services will probably all go bankrupt in 2-3 years...a dock-based electric bike and electric scooter program supported by municipalities makes way more sense. 

Evil-doers ambushing Bird scooter rechargers:

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/05/the-latest-gig-economy-craze-recharging-dockless-scooters/560816/

 

 

RTA's rail system has a huge last-mile problem because large sections were built through industrial areas. The city/county/RTA should really look into incorporating electric scooters into the network (possibly with fare transfers or docks at Rapid stations). Taking an electric scooter for the final mile of the trip sure beats waiting 30-45 minutes for a low frequency bus.

Bird scooters on SF Bay Bridge cause traffic jam:

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/motorized-scooters-Bay-Bridge-traffic-jam-12943985.php

We just got Bird in Austin and I took my first ride today. It was pretty awesome. And cheaper than bike shares from what I could tell. Took it out for an hour, went 7.5 miles and spent $10.

The electric scooters are probably going to beat-out dockless e-bike sharing for the simple fact that they're much easier to recharge:

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/electric-scooters-are-the-cargo-shorts-of-transportation/561440/

I liked the Bird scooters so much I ended up just buying one. Bird uses the Xiaomi M365 which retails [/member]$500. However Swagtron (I felt very embarrassed purchasing something from a company with that name) just started selling the 5, which as far as I can tell is manufactured by the same company but can be bought on the Swagtron website for $375. If you live in neighborhoods like Ohio City/Gordon Square/OTR/Short North they would be very practical for commuting to the respective downtowns, with a range of >10 miles. I mean, at least for the 2-ish months of the year in Ohio when it doesn’t snow /s.

Bird, etc., temporarily banned from San Francisco:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Bye-bye-SF-scooters-as-Bird-Lime-and-Spin-go-on-12966874.php#photo-15668638

Nashville boots Bird:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2018/06/07/bird-scooters-impounded-nashville-thursday/681281002/

Used Bird in Atlanta. They are fun but not great at either going up or going down hills.

D-list celebs + paparazzi love Bird! 

Girl drives Barbie car around campus:

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/texas-student-drives-barbie-jeep-campus-dwi-article-1.2347573

Bird has arrived in Columbus, seen on Capitol Square this morning. According to the app they are currently spread though Downtown, Short North, German Village, and Campus.

 

Girl drives Barbie car around campus:

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/texas-student-drives-barbie-jeep-campus-dwi-article-1.2347573

 

 

She seems like fun -- Bad Fun.

She seems like fun -- Bad Fun.

 

Yeah, she's the one where people who party pretty hard in college turn to each together and say now she has a problem. 

Electric Scooters Now Available to Rent in and Around Downtown

 

As of this morning, Columbus residents can now use their smartphones to book and pay for a ride on a small electric scooter. Dozens of the scooters, from California-based company Bird, were deployed today around Downtown, the Short North, and Bexley.

 

Much like the LimeBikes that recently arrived in the city, the scooters are scattered throughout a neighborhood and do not need to be returned to a docking station.

 

Unlike Lime, though, Bird does not appear to have reached out to neighborhood groups in advance of the launch or discussed the details with the City of Columbus.

 

More below:

https://www.columbusunderground.com/scooters-now-available-to-rent-in-and-around-downtown-bw1

 

(Not sure exactly where this belongs.  Feel free to move as it's not exactly bicycle related, but follows a similar model as CoGo.)

 

http://www.columbusalive.com/news/20180711/bird-scooters-have-landed-in-columbus

 

Los Angeles-based startup Bird selected Columbus as its most recent landing place, as multiple electric scooters were spotted on High Street Downtown on Wednesday, July 11.

 

A Bird spokesperson confirmed to Alive that there are also scooters located in the Short North, the Arena District and Bexley.

 

“Columbus is a city that recognizes the importance of an accessible and reliable transit system,” the company said. “We are excited to bring our affordable, environmentally friendly transportation option to the people and communities of Columbus. Birds are perfect for those ‘last mile’ trips that are too long to walk, but too short to drive.”

 

Bird scooters have arrived in Columbus.  It's a ride-sharing system of electric scooters.

Bexley already pulled Bird scooters off the streets – will Columbus follow?

 

The Bird Ride scooters left the city of Bexley as fast as they came. By Wednesday evening, the scooters sat in the Bexley police station, untouched by patrons.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2018/07/12/bexley-already-pulled-bird-scooters-off-the.html

So a few days in and these are already proving very popular. I'm glad they've finally arrived in Columbus. Just sitting at Mikey's for an hour on Friday night and walking around the SN a bit, I lost count of how many people I saw zipping around on bird scooters. It's still kind of a mess as far as people figuring out where/how to ride though. No one had a helmet on (which is supposedly required), and it was split roughly 50-50 between people riding in the street or on the sidewalk

So a few days in and these are already proving very popular. I'm glad they've finally arrived in Columbus. Just sitting at Mikey's for an hour on Friday night and walking around the SN a bit, I lost count of how many people I saw zipping around on bird scooters. It's still kind of a mess as far as people figuring out where/how to ride though. No one had a helmet on (which is supposedly required), and it was split roughly 50-50 between people riding in the street or on the sidewalk

 

Who knows how long the Bird Scooter fun will last?  But it does seem like people are enjoying them while the weather's good - or until someone gets hurt.  Check out the NBC4 video below that shows people zipping along High Street among all the traffic and construction!  During that video you also see someone riding it on the sidewalk.  And the only rider seen wearing a helmet was the NBC4 reporter!

 

I find it somewhat amusing that the guy who spent years and years developing in the Segway could have just come up with...this. 

I recently got back from San Diego and these things were like the plague, just littering the sidewalks all over Ocean Beach. Tripping hazard doesn't even begin to describe it. There needs to be specific painted or designated areas to park them in for me to not hate them. Also I was in a car with a Lyft driver and we hit a person on one who had cut between two parked cars into the street. They ended up being fine but seeing a person roll across your hood isn't what you expect on vacation.

 

My question is, how do these not just get stolen and broken down all the time? Am I just a hillbilly that when I see a pile of these on the sidewalk I picture the guy in Covington that throws scrap metal in his pickup and would just take these to River City Recycling to get a hundred bucks?

My question is, how do these not just get stolen and broken down all the time? Am I just a hillbilly that when I see a pile of these on the sidewalk I picture the guy in Covington that throws scrap metal in his pickup and would just take these to River City Recycling to get a hundred bucks?

 

Yeah I worked at a place where people would mess up cutting aluminum and stainless steel just so they could go down and sell the scrap. 

 

 

Just saw a Bird scooter at 6th and Race a few minutes ago. Maybe I missed the news, but I guess these have arrived in Cincinnati as well.

This is a terrible photo from my car, but I spotted a bird at government square this morning in Cincinnati.

I'm curious to see how they climb the hills, if at all.  I saw somebody write that you aren't supposed to ride them downhill at all.  That could be a problem. 

 

With wheels that small downhills can really suck. It would be really easy to wind up in a tank slapper, like those videos of little kids crashing Razors on hills and sliding 30 feet on asphalt.

I'm curious to see how they climb the hills, if at all.  I saw somebody write that you aren't supposed to ride them downhill at all.  That could be a problem. 

 

 

They are not great at hills

Bird launched this morning in Cincinnati. I rode one around for about an hour today and it works pretty well as a way of getting around in the urban core. You can get up to about 15 MPH on flat-ish streets which is about as fast as you would want to go on one of those things. The Vine Street hill between 3rd and 4th streets was doable but you slow way down. We tried to go up to Mt. Adams and it just doesn't work at all. We tried to go across the Purple People Bridge and got yelled at; you're not allowed to take "electrics" on the bridge, yelled the guy. I could see using this method of transportation in a lot of different situations. I think the challenge here will be getting people to ride on the streets instead of the sidewalks. Hopefully this will force a large conversation about our city's complete dropping-of-the-ball when it comes to building bike lanes.

Are you really not allowed on the Purple People Bridge with an electric motor?

Are you really not allowed on the Purple People Bridge with an electric motor?

 

I honestly think people don't understand what these electric scooters are yet, so they're just making things up as they go along. The guy on the bridge yelled at us and said "no electrics on the bridge!" It seems silly because there were people biking across the bridge (on regular, non-electric bikes) going faster than us. No one at Sawyer Point said anything to us but I wouldn't be surprised if Cincinnati Parks announces that these aren't allowed to be ridden in parks. It's going to be fun to watch the city scramble and figure out how/whether to regular these.

Bird launched this morning in Cincinnati. I rode one around for about an hour today and it works pretty well as a way of getting around in the urban core. You can get up to about 15 MPH on flat-ish streets which is about as fast as you would want to go on one of those things. The Vine Street hill between 3rd and 4th streets was doable but you slow way down. We tried to go up to Mt. Adams and it just doesn't work at all. We tried to go across the Purple People Bridge and got yelled at; you're not allowed to take "electrics" on the bridge, yelled the guy. I could see using this method of transportation in a lot of different situations. I think the challenge here will be getting people to ride on the streets instead of the sidewalks. Hopefully this will force a large conversation about our city's complete dropping-of-the-ball when it comes to building bike lanes.

 

Yes! My biggest hope is that this and things like it gets the city to see how important bike lanes can be. Let's call them "non-auto transportation" lanes.

^Amsterdam has several levels:

 

1. All traffic

2. Motorcycle, scooter, bike, ped

3. scooter, bike, ped

4. bike, ped

5. ped only

 

If I were a city and I wanted to regulate these, I'd require a GPS interlock that automatically de-powers the scooters on all city sidewalks, in parks, etc. 

GPS isn't that accurate. There'd be people riding a foot or so from the curb and have their scooter shut off. Or people riding next to a park and same thing.

 

As long as people are cool about where they leave them I think it's a great idea. A quick scooter is something I often want. There are days where my feet are exhausted, I'm tired, just want to be at my destination, and yet it's a mile or two away and a quick scooter trip would make that much more enjoyable.

GPS isn't that accurate.

 

Actually it is.  The problem is that the much more accurate GPS equipment used by the military is much more expensive.  That's why it isn't on cell phones or other consumer devices. 

 

Also, China's GPS satellite system is brand-new and allegedly much more accurate than ours, but it is not global.  It pretty much just serves China and about 500 miles of ocean off its coast. 

 

If I were a city and I wanted to regulate these, I'd require a GPS interlock that automatically de-powers the scooters on all city sidewalks, in parks, etc. 

 

It should just lock the front tire.

GPS isn't that accurate.

 

Actually it is.  The problem is that the much more accurate GPS equipment used by the military is much more expensive.  That's why it isn't on cell phones or other consumer devices. 

 

Also, China's GPS satellite system is brand-new and allegedly much more accurate than ours, but it is not global.  It pretty much just serves China and about 500 miles of ocean off its coast. 

 

 

Well, I mean, there really isn't that much technology in the GPS system. It's basically a bunch of satellites with synchronized clocks that simply broadcast their time. All of the "intelligence" is in the receiver which receives signals from multiple satellites, and uses the amount of latency between each satellite to the receiver to triangulate the receiver's location. The reason GPS isn't that accurate in urban cores is the density of the buildings which causes the signals to bounce around before arriving at the receiver. That's why the bus and streetcar tracker can be as much as a block or two inaccurate in the CBD. The accuracy might be ±4 inches in the ocean or in a field, but not in dense cities.

It should just lock the front tire.

 

And have a camera that records the rider going over the bars, then instantly uploads it to youtube. 

Those YouTube "fails" could be as much of a steady income stream as anything else

I love how mountain biking borrowed a lot of terminology from BMX and skateboarding, especially "gnarly", but then there is wide use of "over-the-bars".  Surfing has the "wipeout", mountain bikers couldn't come up with anything better than "over-the-bars". 

 

Then snowboarding also started using "over the bars" even though there are no bars!

Then snowboarding also started using "over the bars" even though there are no bars!

 

Well then I suppose surfers could also go "over-the-bars", except they already have plenty of their own jargon, like how Eskimos supposedly have 200 words for snow. 

 

If the electric scooters really take off and 10 years from now they're an established piece of the urban landscape, we'll have some data on the safety risks (especially as compared to bikes), which I think at this point are uncertain.  Are the scooters statistically safer or less safe than bikes?  In what percentage of accidents does the presence or lack of a helmet come into play?  I don't know.   

 

I remember being able to do a tail whip with my little brother's blade scooter pretty much the first time I rode it...I wonder if you can do one with the Bird scooters. 

 

If you do that he brake cable will probably tighten up then the front wheel will lock.

I was curious about how the battery situation would work because many of the scooters were getting down to 40% or lower by the end of the night yesterday, with several even down to ~15%. Looking on the map today, most of the ones near me are in the 80%+. So apparently they already have enough people recharging these things at night.

I was curious about how the battery situation would work because many of the scooters were getting down to 40% or lower by the end of the night yesterday, with several even down to ~15%. Looking on the map today, most of the ones near me are in the 80%+. So apparently they already have enough people recharging these things at night.

 

It is a nice little way for enterprising types to make some money.

^ You can charge up to 20 scooters per night and you earn $5 per scooter. But you are also responsible for retrieving the scooters at the end of the day, taking them to your home to charge them, and placing them back in designated locations the next morning. So $100 for probably 4 hours worth of work, but you also have to own a vehicle capable of hauling the scooters around and you're also paying for your gas and your electricity. So like most gig economy jobs, it's a pretty good way of making a little extra money if you have the time to do it, but not really a way to earn a living.

Easier than scrappin'!

...then you are taxed a much higher rate than ordinary earned income.  So you aren't making any money, just like ridesharing, but most people doing it don't understand how federal taxation works. 

^ You can charge up to 20 scooters per night and you earn $5 per scooter. But you are also responsible for retrieving the scooters at the end of the day, taking them to your home to charge them, and placing them back in designated locations the next morning. So $100 for probably 4 hours worth of work, but you also have to own a vehicle capable of hauling the scooters around and you're also paying for your gas and your electricity. So like most gig economy jobs, it's a pretty good way of making a little extra money if you have the time to do it, but not really a way to earn a living.

 

Or you can be this guy...