The Scooter Thread

Jack · 2018-04-18 12:12:10

San Francisco is having trouble with electric scooter dockless rental businesses https://slate.com/business/2018/04/san- … oters.html And Austin?

MichaelBluejay · 2018-04-18 12:58:26

The infrastructure isn't set up for scooters to work. They're dangerous to pedestrians on sidewalks, and they're dangerous to the operators in the streets. I think the solution is to start making certain streets car-free, for the operation of only bikes, scooters, and buses. But of course that'll never happen.

Jack · 2018-04-20 11:08:19

Jack wrote:

San Francisco is having trouble with electric scooter dockless rental businesses https://slate.com/business/2018/04/san- … oters.html And Austin?

More info: http://www.axios.com/bird-scooters-1524 … 513d3.html

Jack · 2018-07-26 11:46:57

The NACTO folks have published some guidance for cities on dealing with scooters and the like: https://nacto.org/wp-content/uploads/20 … elines.pdf

Their guidance on bicycle infrastructure doesn't give me a lot of confidence in this effort, but here it is, FYI.

Jack · 2018-07-26 11:49:49

Scooter trips may be replacing automobile trips: https://www.curbed.com/2018/7/24/176047 … s-scooters

MichaelBluejay · 2018-07-26 12:38:02

Thanks for posting these, Jack.

Twenty years ago when this forum was email only, I predicted that when the price of gas exploded (as it must eventually do), the transportation revolution was not gonna be electric bikes, it was gonna be electric scooters. So, in the meantime, now that they've hooked up rentals to smartphones, I'm not surprised at all that scooters have proven popular.

I wonder what kind of share of trips they need to achieve before cities start making certain streets off-limits to cars.

Jack · 2019-02-06 22:29:04

More on scooters:

NewsOK reported over a one-year period in two Los Angeles, CA emergency departments, more people were injured while riding standing electric scooters than by riding bicycles or traveling on foot, according to the results of a groundbreaking new study. (Injuries Associated With Standing Electric Scooter Use: http://bit.ly/2Sr3IpN) The study, published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open, found that many of those injuries were serious in nature, if not severe. Some health professionals have referred to the wave of injuries as a "public health crisis." http://bit.ly/2Svjekd

MichaelBluejay · 2019-02-07 09:25:30

Well, that's a pretty useless study. They looked at the injury rate, but didn't compare either the number of scootists vs. cyclists or the number of miles traveled by each. Using the same methodology as in the study, travel by car results in way more injuries than travel by bicycle, leading one to conclude that car travel is more dangerous, but the reality is that the number of injuries for car travel is so high simply because most travel is done that way, and bike travel is 3-8x more dangerous than car travel.

What's the relative safety of scooter travel vs. biking or walking on a per-trip or per-mile basis? This study provides no clue.

MichaelBluejay · 2019-02-07 21:17:45

First scooter death in Austin:

Austin Monitor wrote:

A 21-year-old scooter rider was killed in a crash last week, says the Austin Police Department. According to the department, it’s the first death related to a rented scooter in Austin.
Police say Mark Sands was riding a Lime scooter on the wrong side of the Interstate 35 southbound frontage road at around 1 a.m. Friday near the on-ramp at Fifth Street. An Uber driver traveling in the right lane changed lanes and struck him. Police say the driver stayed at the scene and is cooperating with the investigation....
Police are investigating the crash and say a toxicology report is pending.
This is the fifth traffic fatality in Austin this year.
More than 2.6 million rides have been taken on scooters in Austin since April, according to Austin Transportation Department data.
https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2 … d-scooter/

So 20% of this year's fatalities are by scooter, though I'm sure scooters don't represent 20% of trips and certainly not miles traveled. Yeah, I know, small sample size, but still...

Jack · 2019-03-04 20:15:30

Jack wrote:

More on scooters:
... Injuries Associated With Standing Electric Scooter Use: http://bit.ly/2Sr3IpN) The study, published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open, ... http://bit.ly/2Svjekd

That small LA study is noted in this article about the CDC using Austin data for a study on scooter injuries. https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/04/health/s … index.html

MichaelBluejay · 2019-06-22 15:41:59

Austin Chronicle wrote:

A study commissioned by Austin Public Health in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control found that about 20 scooter riders were injured for every 100,000 trips taken during a there-month period lat fall in Downtown Austin.

That number seems pretty high, and not at all surprising.

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/20 … -can-hurt/

MichaelBluejay · 2019-08-08 19:15:38

Data from 10/18:

https://austin.curbed.com/2018/12/18/18 … -many-2018

Bicycle Austin forum

#1 2018-04-18 12:12:10

The Scooter Thread

#2 2018-04-18 12:58:26

Re: The Scooter Thread

#3 2018-04-20 11:08:19

Re: The Scooter Thread

#4 2018-07-26 11:46:57

Re: The Scooter Thread

#5 2018-07-26 11:49:49

Re: The Scooter Thread

#6 2018-07-26 12:38:02

Re: The Scooter Thread

#7 2019-02-06 22:29:04

Re: The Scooter Thread

#8 2019-02-07 09:25:30

Re: The Scooter Thread

#9 2019-02-07 21:17:45

Re: The Scooter Thread

#10 2019-03-04 20:15:30

Re: The Scooter Thread

#11 2019-06-22 15:41:59

Re: The Scooter Thread

#12 2019-08-08 19:15:38

Re: The Scooter Thread

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