Scooter-sharing Comes To Washington After Speed Bumps Elsewhere (reuters.com)

So many Washingtonians are gliding the final few blocks of their commutes on motorized scooters that a new sharing program cannot keep up with rush-hour demand. Authorities in other big U.S. cities that pioneered the concept are less than thrilled. From a report: [...] The pilot program in Washington, which runs until August, is capped at 400 scooter permits. It has been so popular that there are often no vehicles left for riders seeking to locate the two-wheeled stand-up rides. To guard against problems seen in other cities, Washington riders must agree to a digital contract that spells out rules that prohibit riding on sidewalks, mandate sticking to roadway bike lanes and proper curbing of discarded scooters, LimeBike's Gendron said.

Comments

They can have ours

[jtara]

Send a few sei-trucks to San Diego. Washington can have our scooters!

Re:They can have ours

[jtara]

For the spellings Nazis: "semi-trucks".

GTA_V

[hduff]

Scooter Buddies!
https://i.imgur.com/kAX96Re.jp...

Smartphone app required?

[DogDude]

You have to own a Google or Apple data collecting device to use scooter renting services? Yeah, no thanks. I'll just walk.

Re:Smartphone app required?

[b0s0z0ku]

The scooters themselves are under $300 -- just buy one and take it on the train with you. Problem solved, no Scroogle or Crapple spy device required.

Re:Smartphone app required?

[ArchieBunker]

Don't worry the scooters also come with a complimentary roll of foil for people like you.

Re:Scooters STINK

[b0s0z0ku]

Those are electric, not gas. Also, most (if not all?) scooters sold in the US are 4-stroke these days.

I sent a message to Reuters:

[Futurepower(R)]

Reuters editors:

Stupidly, the U.S. has 2 places called "Washington", Washington, D.C., and Washington State.

Unfortunately, your writer and 2 editors didn't specify which Washington in the story, "Scooter-sharing comes to Washington after speed bumps elsewhere".

I presume you mean Washington, D.C.

Re:I sent a message to Reuters:

[b0s0z0ku]

Washington, D.C. has been Washington since 1791. Washington' ("Washington-prime") has only been a state since 1889. So "Washington" refers to the original article, Washington', Washington prime, Washington II, Washington State, or Amazon HQ refer to the unlicensed, outsized duplicate :)

Re:I sent a message to Reuters:

[93 Escort Wagon]

And while those of us who live here generally are in the habit of saying “Washington state”, we also refer to ourselves as “Washingtonians”.

Also, Limebike operates in Seattle as well as DC. I wish they didn’t... their bikes tend to get left right in the middle of walkways - probably by the company’s paid employees who are trying to get the bikes noticed. The only riders I ever see around UW seem to be following rather scripted paths.

Re:I sent a message to Reuters:

[93 Escort Wagon]

Watch some of the “riders” sometime, specifically the routes they take and especially where they leave the bikes (and where they go after they get off).

I’m pretty sure these are mostly people being paid to be seen using the bikes.

Re: I sent a message to Reuters:

[knorthern knight]

And of course there's a city called "Vancouver" in Washington State approx 420 km (260 miles) almost due south of the more well known Vancouver, BC. It's on the north shore of the Columbia River, directly across from Portland, Oregon. The Columbia river is the boundary there.

It could confuse overseas tourists. For additional giggles, a Seattle radio station KOMO, in one of their jingles mentioned (deep announcer voice...) "From Vancouver to Vancouver, this is KOMO country"

Re: I sent a message to Reuters:

[tlhIngan]

And of course there's a city called "Vancouver" in Washington State approx 420 km (260 miles) almost due south of the more well known Vancouver, BC. It's on the north shore of the Columbia River, directly across from Portland, Oregon. The Columbia river is the boundary there.

It could confuse overseas tourists. For additional giggles, a Seattle radio station KOMO, in one of their jingles mentioned (deep announcer voice...) "From Vancouver to Vancouver, this is KOMO country"

I always imagined the I-5 signage would be interesting around Seattle - I-5 North - Vancouver, I-5 South - Vancouver.

Alas, it's not the case, because in Seattle, I-5 South is Tacoma. Then Olympia and finally Vancouver, I think (at least they didn't skip straight to Portland, OR).

But just to be extra cautious, WSDOT actually lists Vancouver (Canada) as "Vancouver BC", to not confuse it with Vancouver (South Washington)

Anyhow, Reuters needs to fix it. It's why people say Washington to mean the state, and DC to mean the national capital. Clean and unambiguous. After all, it's also easier to say "DC" than "Washington".

Re:I sent a message to Reuters:

[Scarred Intellect]

The rule of which Washington you're referring to is simple:

If you're resident of the state of Washington, "Washington" means Washington State

If you're not a resident of the state of Washignton, "Washington" means Washington D.C.

Re: I sent a message to Reuters:

[Scarred Intellect]

Not in Washington, but let's not forget about Ontario, CA, and Ontario, CA.

Interestingly, Sumpter, OR has the 'p' in it, because the Post Office wouldn't recognize Sumter as a city since it was already registered in South Carolina (if I recall correctly, the settlers of Sumpter wanted to name it the same because they came from Sumter and were there due to a military deployment). These rules apparently don't transcend national boundaries.

Riding on DC sidewalks

[b0s0z0ku]

Riding on DC sidewalks will be a self-fixing problem. DC sidewalks are often so uneven that scooter riders might end up "arse over tit." This happening once tends to be an educational experience.

Reuters: Be clear when you communicate.

[Futurepower(R)]

We know that. However, it would be sensible for Reuters, a European media company, to make it clear which "Washington" the story is discussing.

Howay!

[Hognoxious]

I thought they meant the one near Sunderland.

Re:Howay!

[ShanghaiBill]

I thought it was Washington University which, of course, is in Missouri.

Re:First post

[PPH]

I'll bet it really hurt when you hit it.

Washington in England

[Futurepower(R)]

Washington in England

Re:Scooters STINK

[drinkypoo]

Those are electric, not gas. Also, most (if not all?) scooters sold in the US are 4-stroke these days.

It's actually still legal to sell 2-strokes in the USA, whether you're talking about scooters, motorcycles, PWCs, or what have you. Surprisingly, it's actually still legal to sell them in California as well. But both the EPA and California have emissions testing requirements which have to be satisfied to legally sell a vehicle in this country, and many if not most of the two-strokes are coming into this country from China with fake paperwork claiming they've been tested when in fact they have not. Still, people are still buying lots of them because you can get them super-cheap. Some of them are supposed to be pretty good and faithful copies of really good scooters, but I don't really know anything about it. It's just what I've heard (from people not even trying to sell me anything.)