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Wait, they banned electric scooter rentals?
Is the main argument that they're unsightly?
So, I'm pretty sure they're talking about the rental-scooters, not all scooters, which, peopel who tend to buy their own don't do these things... but....people get hurt on them, they increase accidents. People do stupid shit, like riding on sidewalks and trying to zip through pedestrians.
they get locked up all over the place, blocking sidewalks, entryways, bikeracks, etc.
in short the rental things are a massive nuisance,
I'd like to add that Paris is one of the tightest cities there is in Europe. there's just so little space already. with thousands of badly parked scooters cluttering up sidewalks people got fed up very quickly. the vote was pretty one sided IIRC.
They just chucked them in the river where I'm at.
They said they're dangerous and cause stress for pedestrians
Stand up scooters should use the bike lanes.
AFAIK, the main issue wasn't where they're used but where they're stored. While scooters riding on sidewalks is an issue, the bigger issue is them cluttering the sidewalk and becoming an impedance to pedestrians, especially those with disabilities.
Interesting. I've seen this where I live, rental scooters just littering the sidewalk.
I wonder, whether personally-owned scooters will become more prevalent if rentals aren't available.
I guess personally-owned scooters are going to be parked more responsibly rather than just left wherever.
I see a lot of people where I live riding around on scooters but haven't seen the rental ones here like in bigger cities so I guess personally owned do become more popular if you can't rent
The performance envelopes of vehicles sharing bike lanes these days are wildly different. I dread the day that RTO is complete, and rush-hour bike lanes are shared by e-bikes, e-unicycles, one-wheels, push scooters, e-standup-scooters, smaller sit-scooters, monkey bikes, e-skateboards, skateboards, and whatever else I’m missing.
What's RTO?
But anyway those belong in bike lanes except sit down scooters.
Return to office.
I don't see a problem with that. If your issue is crowding, maybe just trade more car lanes for bike lanes.
Ideally mass transit like trains or buses would be a first choice, but individual electric transport is still great for the last mile(s).
It raises the likelihood of accidents, as these vehicles have varying acceleration and braking curves, not to mention stances and senses of what’s behind them.
That said, I don’t think there is anything to be done about it in the near to mid term; just interesting to force so many different vehicle profiles into a relatively small space.
I mean, people should already be operating them safely enough to avoid a collision regardless of mode of transportation.
Although they're not strictly forced into a small space. In most places, bicycles (and probably other vehicles) are entitled to take the whole lane, even if it's not a designated bike lane.
Really, it all boils down to just operating your vehicle safely, though as we've seen even with cars, that doesn't happen as much as it should. But maybe if people aren't as protected like in their SUVs, they'd be more careful.
I'd also like to see better traffic enforcement for unsafe operation, because especially post-COVID, people have gone a little nuts and policing is way down. My city's police department literally said at a meeting that they're prioritizing education over ticketing, which is one of the most stupid things I've ever heard, especially since I haven't seen any educational outreach from them, and I hardly see anyone being pulled over.
Because humans are known for following rules to a fault.
so instead of that one rule, you think it’s better to have a different rule?
Well... yes ?
I mean there will always be people that break the rules but in my experience once something becomes a law, like smoking in certain areas or whatever, people tend to follow the rules.
The rule already exists, living in the suburbs and working in Paris, I can tell you that they ended up forbidding them because a lot of people weren't using them on the road.
Wouldn't this apply to both rented and personally-owned scooters though?
Getting rid of the rentals might reduce the number temporarily, but doesn't really seem to solve the problem.
most people who buy their own don't leave it out on the street, and (while I'm not in paris...) my experience is they also tend to be more responsible about it. like riding while sober, wearing helmets, and being in the bike lane (or wherever they're supposed to be)
Yeah I think you're dead right there.
The rental scooters do seem to bring out the worst in people, or maybe they just tend to hilight people's general disrespect for "things" particularly those which do not belong to them.
People will always take care of their own stuff better than someone else's.
Edit: I've also noticed that people aren't using them that much where I live. They were all over the place for a minute, but now don't see them very much.
It gets rid of all the unused rental scooters lying around on the sidewalk, and that was seen as the biggest nuisance. Privately owned scooters will never reach the same height of scooter littering.
The rental scooter companies were unwilling or unable to deal with the issue. They were warned that this was becoming an issue.
Perhaps not scooter "littering" but surely just numbers of personal transport devices.
That is to say, if no other form of transport existed, then the presence of rental scooters would surely mean that there were fewer scooters in total and thereby fewer scooters parked on the sidewalk.
Someone who owns their own scooter is more likely to know local laws on where not to scoot - and if they don't they can more easily be fined and learn them. Tourists rarely understand local traffic laws and, while you can fine them, they'll leave next week and then a new tourist will arrive that also lacks that knowledge.
This seems like a very solvable problem.
It's surprisingly difficult! Do you think you can turn right on a red in Provence? Would you remember to double check all your assumptions before going on vacation? Would your muscle memory fail you?
There are a truly staggering number of stories of people getting on the highway the wrong way or going into the wrong lane at an intersection when driving in the UK - there's so many laws and habits we learn to operate in our society... and those aren't the same everywhere.
Well yes, and yet even with these lapses you mention our cities are not in eternal pandemonium.
Laws, signage, design of street scapes et cetera, all contribute to homogenising behaviour.
If you own it, presumably you've spent more time using it, meaning you both look and drive in a more controlled manner
The biggest issue I've heard is that people tend to leave them lying all over the place, blocking doors, gates, sidewalks, etc.
And I'm not sure how that's such a big issue. In Boston, we have Blue Bikes, which is a similar bicycle rental program, but you have to return them to a dock or you get charged hundreds of dollars to replace it because it's considered lost. Surely they could do something similar with the scooters. (I guess the current model is just "leave it wherever and the next person can rent it from there"?)
I also didn't bother reading the article, but given this is Europe, I assume they're referring to Vespa-type scooters, not electric Razor-type. Vespas would be harder to do like this but not impossible. Electric Razors would be a lot better for everyone, I think. I know I would prefer them.for quick getarounds.
Yeah. There seems to be innumerable ways to encourage people to park the scooters sensibly. A dock is one idea but it's not really necessary IMO, and does reduce the utility. You could just have a parking inspector, even one employed by the scooter hire company. You get charged 3x your trip fee if the inspector finds your scooter parked inappropriately or something.
This article is def talking about the little electric scooters.