Wow! The City of Los Angeles has contracted with an electric scooter company (Superpedestrian) to locate 5,000 scooters in the city. They will be focused in areas of the metro that seem to be lacking in micromobity. Fair Enough.
In my highly scientific survey (looking out the window) I have seen a few more scooters lying on the sidewalks of the local neighborhoods, but virtually none actually being ridden. Admittedly I have not frequented areas around local colleges and universities where I would expect these critters would be popular.
Cost could be a factor – they run about $25 an hour and seem convenient only when you have a smart phone and credit card, although Superpedestrian has work around for those smart phone and credit card challenged.
Since Bird and Lime came on the scene almost four years ago, I haven’t seen a requisite jump in scooter usage here in LA, which would seem to be one of the epicenters of such activity. I realize that companies and cities are trying to get these established, but I wonder if they aren’t simply proving one of Einstein’s sayings: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”
JVH
