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Electric Scooters in Austin

Silky Johnston

By Silky Johnston
in Food and Travel

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DallasHorn26

DallasHorn26 586

Posted
Posted

The bikes have been around Dallas for a while now and they are an eyesore. The scooters dropped in a few weeks ago and I’m starting to see more of them around, but no wipeouts yet. I’ve heard by word of mouth, can’t find proof that petty crimes have increased since the bikes dropped in, cause they can get away a little faster now. Ofo recently exited Dallas and saw this today.

5505e98ed165b6f2375cfd59e3688787.png

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wood

wood 11225

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

They're on every damned sidewalk downtown (I walk and drive downtown a good bit).  Have almost been run down/run over while walking on the sidewalk, and have almost been hit/hit one coming out of nowhere in my car several times.  For example, if you are exiting a parking garage, you look for street traffic (cars, bikes, etc.), and if clear, you check for NEARBY pedestrian traffic (people on the sidewalk move slower, so it if they're more than 30 feet away, they're not a threat/risk).  Except when those people are in scooters, in a crowd.  I look see pedestrians 50 feet away, I start to pull out....and nearly get hit by a scooter on the sidewalk hauling ass.

It's not the scooter's fault.  It ain't my fault.  It's putting a parade of dumbasses on the scooters and letting them dumbass out there.  Which they are doing, at a professional level.

No, it's the scooter rider's fault. Bikes and motorized vehicles (minus wheelchairs) are illegal on sidewalks.

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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

Posted
Posted
On 8/4/2018 at 9:11 PM, 3adays said:

Saw a chick on the sidewalk of Guadalupe near Lavaca Plaza parking garage take a tumble off one and spill out into the street. Construction truck going south on Guadalupe locked up his breaks and came to a stop with the chick laying about 3 feet from his front tires. I think the only thing that saved her was that she was hot. Construction worker had to have been watching her the whole time. I know I was 

Hot chicks are always better at surviving.

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Deej

Deej 76765

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Posted

These companies say they require riders to wear a helmet, but they have to know very few people just happen to be carrying a helmet around when they decide to jump on one of these things. I wonder what their liability is in these situations?

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CooterBrown

CooterBrown 18007

Posted
Posted
So, there are just 750 of these things ... and how many accidents so far already? 
Also, what's the age or DL requirement? Are there any?


There’s no way to enforce it. As long as you have the app and Apple Pay you can rent. When I was in SD, there was a herd of a dozen middle schoolers weaving in and out of downtown traffic on those things with no adult in sight.
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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

Posted
Posted
30 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

 


There’s no way to enforce it. As long as you have the app and Apple Pay you can rent. When I was in SD, there was a herd of a dozen middle schoolers weaving in and out of downtown traffic on those things with no adult in sight.

 

I mean...that’s pretty progressive for South Dakota.  Would have thought it would be a while before these things made their way there.

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wood

wood 11225

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, CooterBrown said:

 


There’s no way to enforce it. As long as you have the app and Apple Pay you can rent. When I was in SD, there was a herd of a dozen middle schoolers weaving in and out of downtown traffic on those things with no adult in sight.

 

Awesome.

Sounds like something that needs to be banned until they find a more secure mode of delivery to the customer. It'll be self-banned anyway, eventually, once they get the bejeezus sued out of 'em.

Edited by wood
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captained

captained 57

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, wood said:

Awesome.

Sounds like something that needs to be banned until they find a more secure mode of delivery to the customer. It'll be self-banned anyway, eventually, once they get the bejeezus sued out of 'em.

i don't know the details, but a coworker from denver said that is pretty much what happened there - banned until they tightened it up, then re-entered market.

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irishtexan

irishtexan 11518

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 8/6/2018 at 5:59 PM, wood said:

No, it's the scooter rider's fault. Bikes and motorized vehicles (minus wheelchairs) are illegal on sidewalks.

You can't ride on the sidewalk downtown, on guadalupe by campus, and on 15th north of the capitol. Otherwise it's legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk.

CAN I RIDE MY BICYCLE ON THE SIDEWALK?

City of Austin code states that a person may ride a bicycle on the sidewalk, however sidewalks are slower than streets, and are not always as safe as they seem. Crossing motorists may not expect such fast-moving sidewalk traffic. Ride carefully, checking before crossing streets and driveways. Slow down for pedestrians, and give an audible signal well before passing them.

Remember: sidewalk riding is illegal in certain parts of central Austin. Click here for a map of areas that prohibit sidewalk riding.

https://austintexas.gov/faq/can-i-ride-my-bicycle-sidewalk

 

Edited by irishtexan
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wood

wood 11225

Posted
Posted (edited)
26 minutes ago, irishtexan said:

You can't ride on the sidewalk downtown, on guadalupe by campus, and on 15th north of the capitol. Otherwise it's legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk.

CAN I RIDE MY BICYCLE ON THE SIDEWALK?

City of Austin code states that a person may ride a bicycle on the sidewalk, however sidewalks are slower than streets, and are not always as safe as they seem. Crossing motorists may not expect such fast-moving sidewalk traffic. Ride carefully, checking before crossing streets and driveways. Slow down for pedestrians, and give an audible signal well before passing them.

Remember: sidewalk riding is illegal in certain parts of central Austin. Click here for a map of areas that prohibit sidewalk riding.

https://austintexas.gov/faq/can-i-ride-my-bicycle-sidewalk

 

Wow, they must have changed that around the time they idiotically made it legal to ride a bike on Mopac. Still, no motorized vehicles.

Edited by wood
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Orange&White

Orange&White 5524

Posted
Posted
44 minutes ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

The little scooters a are electric. 

 

I know. I was referring to these two posts.

 

 

On 8/6/2018 at 3:58 PM, SDG said:

I like to ride the ofo bikes to the gym. It’s only a quarter mile away and I don’t have to get sweat in my car.  They were great while they lasted but not seeing many here in Scottsdale anymore...

 

On 8/6/2018 at 3:32 PM, DallasHorn26 said:

The bikes have been around Dallas for a while now and they are an eyesore. The scooters dropped in a few weeks ago and I’m starting to see more of them around, but no wipeouts yet. I’ve heard by word of mouth, can’t find proof that petty crimes have increased since the bikes dropped in, cause they can get away a little faster now. Ofo recently exited Dallas and saw this today.

5505e98ed165b6f2375cfd59e3688787.png

 

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irishtexan

irishtexan 11518

Posted
Posted (edited)

I almost ran over three douche bros riding these things wearing flip flops on Barton Springs. They couldn't decide if they wanted to ride in the street or on the sidewalk, were running red lights, and were almost falling off of them. I think they were day drunk. These idiots would be dead if traffic ever moved faster than 5 mph on Barton Springs by Barton Springs.

Edited by irishtexan
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Deej

Deej 76765

Posted
Posted
46 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

I can’t get over the number of homeless people I’ve seen on theses things or on bikes.  I guess homeless have smartphones.

How else are they supposed to get in touch with their K2 dealers?

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52-80

52-80 19151

Posted
Posted

So I picked one up today.  Actually a clone of the "real" Xiaomi one.  Looks identical but use no-name generic Chinese batteries (vs LG or Samsung) so speed or range isn't as good.  And it might blow up and burn down my house one day.

Did a test run to the bank in pedestrian-only zone downtown.  Which is a perfect use case.

 

Do I look like a twat on it?  Yes.

 

Do I poopoo at the other absolute peasants pedaling their bikes and kick-pushing their scooters?  Also yes.

 

 

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Landomatic

Landomatic 3813

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

Ok, seriously,  how are these things not just stolen? I know  there are GPS on them, but it can't be that hard to find the receiver and take it out.  

I imagine it’s somehow tied to the motor.  Disable the gps and you probably just have yourself a kick scooter

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52-80

52-80 19151

Posted
Posted

those things are powered by 30x 18650 cells of 3.6v 2600mAh.

that battery pack is worth like $200 bucks.  more than half the manufacturing cost of the thing.  im surprised more people arent stealing it and ripping it for parts - forget the scooter.  

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dingleberryswitzer

dingleberryswitzer 2724

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3 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

https://www.cnet.com/news/the-mad-tale-of-the-electric-scooter-craze-with-bird-lime-and-spin-in-san-francisco/

 

"Every homeless person has like three scooters now," Ghadieh said. "They take the brains out, the logos off and they literally hotwire it."

 

Ahh, I knew it. 

I guess as word gets around we'll be seeing more  bootleg scooters in the hood. 

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Party_Taco

Party_Taco 3726

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Posted
Weekend trip to San Diego and they're every where... and incredible for tourist use for how small downtown SD is

Between these scooters and the bikes, SD is absolutely littered right now. I love the convenience factor, but I just can’t imagine the city is cool with the amount of then just scattered about...

I drove a Bird yesterday after a couple ‘ritas and in no way felt safe hauling ass around downtown.
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Hank_Hill

Hank_Hill 18804

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, DaysOff said:
16 hours ago, HenryJames said:


f6ece2649c48cc59cd89637810311048.jpg

Less than 24 hours later. Lulz.

I just don't see the profitability in this business model. I guess it came from silicon valley so somebody's throwing stupid money at them.

Guy I know just quit his PE job at shell to go work for lime so, uh, I guess they’re paying pretty well for now? Was still a head scratcher.

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SDG

SDG 3319

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Posted
On 8/9/2018 at 8:17 AM, 52-80 said:

So I picked one up today.  Actually a clone of the "real" Xiaomi one.  Looks identical but use no-name generic Chinese batteries (vs LG or Samsung) so speed or range isn't as good.  And it might blow up and burn down my house one day.

Did a test run to the bank in pedestrian-only zone downtown.  Which is a perfect use case.

 

Do I look like a twat on it?  Yes.

 

Do I poopoo at the other absolute peasants pedaling their bikes and kick-pushing their scooters?  Also yes.

 

 

I ordered one that arrived today.  I rode it to the post office to drop off some mail.  I have no idea what kind of batteries it has, but I was able to sustain 18 mph on the flats.  I plan to use it around my neighborhood to get to the gym and local bars.

 

As pointed out above the rentals lying around everywhere may be a bit much but owning one in an urban environment is a good idea.   

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