Scooters everywhere

 


They are everywhere. Sometimes they are alone; sometimes they are in a pack. No, I am not talking about animals. I am talking about the scooters in Austin, a business that has grown enormously in the past few years in the United States. Along with e-bikes and other sharing mobile services, they are called micromobility business.

Here in Austin there are some scooter rental companies like Bird, Wheels, and Lime. All you need to do is download the app, make an account and pay for the ride. Almost all companies charge a fee of $1 to unlock and then about 10 to 35 cents per minute. As it is a dockless system users are not supposed to leave them at a certain spot. They can ride their scooter and simply leave it anywhere they want.

If you want to know how the Bird Scooter works, you can watch this video:


For me it was quite shocking to see all these scooters left all over the city. It's something we don't see in Brazil, not even in big cities like São Paulo. I started wondering why people are not required to leave them at certain stations, like the ones used for bikes. It bothers me a little that they are left in the middle of the sidewalk and that sometimes we have to go round them because they are in the way.


No, I did not rent one. I was just pretending :)

A report from the Austin American Statesman points out that "especially downtown, it became hard to drive, walk or bike a single block without seeing at least one scooter". It seems that mobility administrators were not ready for this change and they have been working on regulations for this service.

I wonder how long it will take until they spread in the Brazilian territory. I also ask myself if this could be a good idea there since our people is so different. Would the scooters last on the streets? What do you think?

Comments

  1. FotiniFebruary 5, 2023 at 5:25 PM

    They used to be more and very dangerous before COVID but they are coming back :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. LuziaFebruary 8, 2023 at 6:32 PM

    Nice topic, I am afraid of them.

    ReplyDelete

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