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Uber Adds Electric Scooters To Its App (cnet.com)
Uber is planning to partner with the bike-sharing company Lime to start renting scooters through its app. The announcement was made in Lime's new $335 million funding round. CNET reports: Uber didn't disclose how much it's investing in Lime, but Lime said it's "sizable." With Uber and Lime as strategic partners, the scooters will be co-branded and available in the Uber app. Uber launched a similar partnership with Jump bicycles in January and eventually acquired the dockless bike rental in April.
Scooters have become a controversial topic as they take over more and more cities across the U.S. As regulators hurry to write laws around the new form of transportation, lots of people say they love being able to scoot block-to-block around congested cities. Other residents complain that riders don't follow the laws of the road and endanger pedestrians by riding on sidewalks and leaving the scooters wherever they feel like it -- blocking parking spots, bike racks and wheelchair accesses. Here's what Uber's head of new modalities, Rachel Holt, had to say about the partnership: "Our investment and partnership in Lime is another step towards our vision of becoming a one stop shop for all your transportation needs. Lime already has an expansive footprint, and we're excited to incorporate their scooters into the Uber app so consumers have another fast, affordable option to get around their city, especially to and from public transit."
Scooters have become a controversial topic as they take over more and more cities across the U.S. As regulators hurry to write laws around the new form of transportation, lots of people say they love being able to scoot block-to-block around congested cities. Other residents complain that riders don't follow the laws of the road and endanger pedestrians by riding on sidewalks and leaving the scooters wherever they feel like it -- blocking parking spots, bike racks and wheelchair accesses. Here's what Uber's head of new modalities, Rachel Holt, had to say about the partnership: "Our investment and partnership in Lime is another step towards our vision of becoming a one stop shop for all your transportation needs. Lime already has an expansive footprint, and we're excited to incorporate their scooters into the Uber app so consumers have another fast, affordable option to get around their city, especially to and from public transit."
The share bike thing has been a disaster in Australia. Mostly because we are not very mature, so bikes have ended up in rivers, blocking footpaths, damaged and being such a nuisance is that councils are fining bike share companies $2500 per bike found littering public land.
It might work better in asia where there is more social responsibility, but not in OZ and probably not in the USA either.
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what about an damage waiver? uber can be like the rent a car places and bill 3-4 people for the same damage.
Uber seems to think itself above the law. It's one thing to say "hey that law is bullshit". It might be. But it's not the right of a large corporation to subvert local laws just because they seem to get away from it.
Uber should sell pot from it's vehicles and set up a prostitute order service. What would be the difference? All blue laws are bullshit laws unless of course you like them.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
THe issue here is not so much whether uber is committing a criminal act-- perhaps the scooter rider is the one violating the law by not wearing a helmet and abandoning the scooter in a place not zoned for it. But uber is the one creating a public nuisance and profiting from it. It's the same reason we don't like abandoned buildings-- they collect squatters. Uber is a racket.
I think the difficulty is dealing with deep vc-funded pockets that can afford to change the status quo fast.
The traditional business approach would be to check with the city authorities and get permission to do something like this, but tech startups have developed essentially a sociopathic ethos: they don't worry about problems they create for other people, and they certainly don't ask permission. They just roll in one night with trucks full of junk and dump it all over the place. By the time you realize they exist, the problem exists.
The game is to get too big to stop too fast to react to. And they can do this because they've got backers with a big bucks and boners for disruption. They can buy on a scale where people will tire of chucking scooters into the trash faster than they'll run out of scooters.
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for evading the cops long enough to survive and get massive investment capital needed to buy off all the politicians. The other gig economy start ups got shot down. It was a bit surprising when several of them lost their lawsuits and Uber won theirs.
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What are you talking about? These are electric scooters. They don't require any of those things. You must be thinking of Vespa type things.
I'm not sure where the law falls on motorized scooters, I would actually assume they fall into the bicycle category.
But enforcing laws like this (stay off the sidewalk, etc.) would be a money maker and quickly kill the service. Tickets would rapidly drive up the cost of using them, and more than pay for the enforcement if the problem is truly as bad as the headlines.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
Alternative possibility: word gets round and people start following the rules. Eventually.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I'm not sure where the law falls on motorized scooters, I would actually assume they fall into the bicycle category.
Here's what CA haws to say.
A motorized scooter is a two-wheeled device that has handlebars, a floorboard designed to be stood upon when riding, and is powered by a motor.
Motorized scooter does NOT have to be registered. A motorized scooter may be driven with any class driver license.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
In kansas a motorized scooter is less 130cc or 3.5 brake horsepower, has an automatic transmission, 3 or less wheels, with a top speed of 30mph, and requires a valid driver license of any type but must be registered and insured. Any one under 18 is required to wear a helmet and everyone is required to wear eye protection and must follow the same rules as a car or motor cycle on the road with the exception it can't be driven on the highway. These are popular for teens because you can drive it at 15 but can't drive a car unrestricted until your 17.
I had an incident like that I told the insurance company to fight them and not to give them a dime. They said it would be cheaper just to pay it and they did.
In kansas a motorized scooter is less 130cc or 3.5 brake horsepower...
It sounds like you're talking about the Kansas definition for a moped or motorized bicycle. A motorized scooter has the additional requirement of being under 5 horsepower, but the laws don't change so the point is moot.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
I would actually assume they fall into the bicycle category.
Why? A vehicle that you have to pedal with your limbs to make it move should fall into the bicycle category. What other point would the bicycle category have?
Ezekiel 23:20
Needless to say they are already popular enough that we call them bumble bees because they swarm together and buzz down the street when school starts and finish for the day.
The motor scooters I've seen move with similar decterity and speed to a bicycle, and have similar mass.
It follows to me that they should have similar privileges and restrictions to their movement, and not be purely comingled with cars.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg