Stephen M. reports this grim scene on DeWolfe Street at Memorial Drive this morning: Somebody's disassembled a couple of those rental scooters that suddenly showed up in Cambridge and Somerville last week - and left behind evidence of their work.
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Suspects were driving a groovy van
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 10:24am
[img]https://awesomestuff365.com/wp-content/uploads/201...
I wonder if the components are now in the possession of that notorious mastermind, James E. Tetazoo III?
I knew Tetazoo well in college
By mg
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 12:04pm
I haven't heard his name in decades - I hope he's well and active!
Is that where the gps is?
By anon
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 10:24am
Now you put on your own handlebars, you gotcha self a free scooter!
Looks like they're
By anon
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 10:31am
Taking the expensive motors and leaving behind the cheap GPS components.
If private companies want to
By JJ3
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 10:54am
If private companies want to use our public space to line their pockets, can't really blame civic-minded people for assisting the city when trash is
abandoned on the sidewalk.
Personally, I would prefer to
By anon
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 11:02am
Personally, I would prefer to not see these rental scooters in Boston. However, since it will be impossible to keep them out, at least have the courtesy and common sense of driving them in the bike lane and not on the sidewalk. Thanks.
scooters
By mrotown
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 12:51pm
They've got a motor. Please keep them out of the bike lane.
Scooters and bike lanes
By The Ghost of Jo...
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 5:40pm
If bike riders would stay out of motor lanes (roads), and stay off the sidewalk, then maybe, just maybe, you would have a valid argument that scooters should stay out of "bike" lanes. Until that time, fagetaboutit.
"Motor lanes?"
By Bob Leponge
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 9:01pm
"Motor lanes?"
Seriously?
I'll just go get my popcorn and be right back for this one.
Hint:
#1 Roads predate cars by a lot
#2 People using bicycles have the same legal rights to the road as people using cars, except for limited access highways and other special cases.
Oy Vey
By BenHav
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 9:50pm
Time to re-litigate this same old tired point.
As if on cue: aggrieved driver makes retrograde comment about bikers taking *his* road.
Hey bucko, we all pay taxes. We're all trying to navigate toward our respective destinations. Why is your (1-2 ton) conveyance more important than my (25 pound) one?
Try a bike for a day. Get one of those cheapo share accounts and ride around the city. Confine yourself to the bike lane. (WATCH THOSE CAR DOORS!). See how it feels. Experience the rush of a texting or otherwise-distracted driver just barely skirting the side of your two-wheeler as they creep into *your* lane. What a thrill!
Motor scooters with gas
By Gabriel
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 11:05pm
Motor scooters with gas engines (up to 50cc I believe) are permitted in bike lanes, these likely are as well.
and a max speed of less that 30 miles per hour
By cinnamngrl
Fri, 07/27/2018 - 9:55am
The size of the engine is only part of it, and pretty irrelevant with the current advances in engineering.
https://www.boston.gov/departments/transportation/...
Heads left on purpose, no doubt
By Jeff F
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 11:20am
Would have been both faster and less likely to get caught if they'd just transported whole scooters and done the surgery somewhere private.
Which makes me imagine that it was done this way on purpose, as a way of communicating to the general public (at least those with a makerish bent) that these [u]abandoned[/u] scooters make good salvage.
I imagine
By SamWack
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 6:17pm
it was a slightly more practical consideration. It's not too clever to steal a device that you know includes a built-in GPS tracker.
Not talking about a chop shop situation
By Jeff F
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 3:16pm
Just throw the scooters in the vehicle, drive around the corner and park, do the decap and then ditch the handlebars. Much less likely to be photo'ed or approached by concerned citizen or cop.
People Like them Elsewhere
By NorthEnd3r
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 11:21am
Despite all the griping, a new survey found that a supermajority of residents (from 67-79%) had positive views of dockless scooters in nine cities that have them operating today.
San Francisco was an outlier, but even there 52% of residents have a positive view of them.
But I guess we're not New York! (...or Atlanta, Austin, Denver, Chicago, DC, Los Angeles, San Jose, or Seattle)
Source: http://dcist.com/2018/07/report_seven_in_10_dc_res...
These are banned in New York.
By rb
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 11:28am
Haven't seen any.
Sidewalk space
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 11:35am
The Boston Area, and Boston in particular, is different from most of those cities in that we don't even have enough sidewalk space for pedestrians, let alone adequate bike parking space. BlueBikes have special arrangements for this, but covering the area with scooters and dockless bikes is going to be a challenge.
Survey has legit look, but they aren't sharing raw data
By Jeff F
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 11:43am
I'm a bit leary of anyone's research, regardless of their bona fides, when it's not peer-reviewed and the methodology/data is unavailable for review.
Yeah, nobody asked me what I think...
By BlackKat
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 11:54am
I don't like borrowed/rented vehicles. I believe if you want to ride a bicycle you should have your own, keeping it indoors when not in use to better pamper it. I also don't cater to any part of the "sharing economy" old or new, whether it is AirBnB, rental cars, temporary office space like Work Bar, or even renting apartments. There should only be owner occupants, nothing else, with every multi-unit building a condominium.
And
By SamWack
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 12:36pm
the research was carried out by an interested party, Populus Micromobility, whose slogan is "we’re building a revolutionary platform to help cities and private mobility operators work more seamlessly together".
People are so crazy, this is
By anon
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 11:45am
People are so crazy, this is just malicious and in the worst way. It's also not going to make Bird go away.
If anything, more scooters are needed, not less:
These scooters are fun to ride, zero emissions, and (if you're not a totally careless operator) they're safe
No, they are not safe
By mg
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 12:11pm
The LA Times recently had an article on how dangerous they are.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-abcarian-bird-s...
Anything on a road is
By anon
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 1:25pm
Anything on a road is dangerous, driving a car, walking on the sidewalk, riding a bike or whatever
But "Nobody Walks in L.A." as
By anon_wd
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 9:50pm
But "Nobody Walks in L.A." as the old song goes
it's not just about are
By JJ3
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 12:42pm
it's not just about are scooters good or bad. it's about wealthy companies unilaterally building their business on public property. I'm sure there are lots of local businesses that would love to set up a sidewalk stand instead of paying rent. how come Bird gets to do that? I think a scooter network could be a really cool idea - - but it's unacceptable for venture capitalists to get rich off the commons by basically holding the community hostage.
You mean like how Uber and
By anon
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 1:23pm
You mean like how Uber and lyft operate on publicly maintained roadways? Or taxis? Or any vehicle affiliated with a company?
It's a couple of bucks to ride a bird across town, it's not like you're throwing 100 dollar bills at the already wealthy
Uber and Lyft
By The Ghost of Jo...
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 5:44pm
At least the owners of the Uber and Lyft vehicles registered in Massachusetts pay excise taxes here and anyone of them buying gas pay gas taxes. That's far more than these scooter companies are paying.
As comes up over and over and
By anon
Fri, 07/27/2018 - 1:59pm
As comes up over and over and over again when people complain about cyclists using roads, excise taxes cover such a small portion of road maintenance and construction it's crazy.
Our infrastructure problems, which are mainly because of lack of funding, are much deeper and more complicated than that.
Also, again as comes up over and over again when people complain about bicycles, the average scooter rider probably owns a car, or is part of a family that owns a car, and is paying those darn taxes you love so much anyways.
Now if you want to talk about tech companies not paying taxes, let's talk about Apple and Google and Amazon, all things I'm sure you use on a daily basis.
Hostage negotiation
By Angry Dan
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 8:42pm
I thinks that's a bit overly dramatic.
Obviously, it would be nice if they could negotiate an agreeable entry into the city. But how likely would it be for Marty "I'm a car guy" Walsh to approve more vehicles that have less than 4 wheels, weigh less than 2 tons, and are smaller than a living room? Change is disruptive and bad.
So they just launch and hope they can quickly build a loyal user base and some positive press that will make it politically problematic to do an outright ban, even if the NIMBY corps starts winding up. Then they can sit down with city officials and negotiate the details of making it a better fit.
Sometimes the only way forward through a bureaucracy is to skip asking permission, forge ahead, and then make apologies and amends afterward.
"Zero emissions..."
By GFN
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 5:41pm
if the guy driving around is in an electric van picking them up at night to charge using solar chargers
Viewer Discretion Advised
By Jedidude
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 11:51am
Geez put a warning up before showing that carnage!
Company has utter disregard for anyone
By mg
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 12:13pm
It tells you all you need to know that Bird just dumped their scooters in the cities without contacting city officials to get permission or even notifying them. They clearly have no interest in doing things properly or safely.
A Proven Model
By NorthEnd3r
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 12:26pm
Uber and Lyft started operating in most cities without any prior notice, ignoring regulations for livery drivers and taxis. Both are now here to stay.
Uber and Lyft used roads and
By anon
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 3:28pm
Uber and Lyft used roads and cars already in use. Dumping private property on sidewalks is more like the old newspapers which used to stick boxes on sidewalks without permission.
Uber and Lyft have greatly impacted traffic in cities
By spin_o_rama
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 4:13pm
They started operating like unregulated taxis in cities that have established systems but there was no moratorium or regulatory push back from cities. As a result, we now deal with these problems.
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2018/07/25/uber-and-ly...
TNCs, bikeshares, e-bikes and scotters are all new additions to our cities mobility options that need regulations to control how they disrupt the status quo but only one of them seems to skirt by the regulatory processes and pearl clutching that so many have.
Hell lets take it a step farther, apps like Waze have dumped private vehicles onto side streets and neighborhoods that are not meant to handle such loads.
Edit:
In other words, regulation, just like cabs/taxis, bikeshares and other new mobility options. I mean you could even argue that we don't regulate private vehicles enough because parking permits are free, parking spots are limited, meters aren't market rate and in general, nothing to significantly discourage driving at peak hours.
https://www.instagram.com
By anon
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 1:48pm
https://www.instagram.com/birdgraveyard/?hl=en
Stealth scooter makes its way to downtown Boston
By adamg
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 1:51pm
And somebody is there with the 311 app on their phone.
Well that explains it
By Dani B.
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 1:53pm
I feel like not even an entire week since launch I'm already seeing way fewer on the streets and in the app. I was in providence earlier this week and they seemed way more abundant. Other than the cost I feel like these are a great way to get around, but I'd be pretty nervous riding one without a helmet.
How many more must die?
By anon
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 2:19pm
How many more must die?
Having seen them in use this
By Omri
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 9:07pm
Having seen them in use this morning, I'm a bit disappointed at the naysaying here. These things have about the same speed profile as a bike, and can be ridden with about the same norms, minus having to break a sweat. They are yet another way to make it easy to live in this city without a car. We do need to establish some norms on where to leave them after you've used them. They should not trip up blind people, and so forth. But I' glad they're here, and I intend to use one this summer.
Trash
By anon
Thu, 07/26/2018 - 10:33pm
I always did wonder why the city of Boston can't impose huge fines on these companies for littering because that's exactly what it is. I get a ticket for putting a small cardboard box outside, or for putting my trash outside before 6pm because I'm leaving for the weekend.. yes, it's better that the trash rots inside my house and attracts rats.
Make them pay for sanctioned stations as well, no dumping.
Because the company prohibits
By C
Fri, 07/27/2018 - 12:03pm
Because the company prohibits their customers from leaving them in Boston.
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