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Brookline to be flooded with scooters - and you know a lot of them will wind up in Boston
By adamg on Thu, 03/14/2019 - 9:13am
NBC Boston reports Brookline has given two companies approval to load up the town with battery-powered rental scooters starting April 1. Brookline, of course, is shaped like a paramecium surrounded by a Boston-sized amoeba, so now the question is what happens when the gizmos wind up left on streets in Boston - where they're still technically banned as city officials try to figure out how to regulate the things.
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Comments
Love these Scooters
Can't wait for these scooters to infiltrate Boston -- I have all the apps (Bird, Jump (Uber), Lyft, Lime) downloaded and setup. I'll ride the scooters into the sunset before Boston can pick them up.
But on a more serious note, Boston should take some pointers from San Antonio, TX, which has clearly painted scooter zones on each downtown street. They also have restricted zones (around the Alamo, for example), which prevent users from parking/locking scooters where they shouldn't be.
uhhh
"clearly painted scooter zones on each downtown street"
We still can't get pedestrian and bike safety right, nevermind scooters.
According to the leftist playbook
According to the leftist playbook, as seen in issues like teen pregnancy and dope shooters, Boston should.....
give out free helmets to all citizens.
maybe
maybe a helmet could have done you some good
Fresh. That should show him.
Fresh. That should show him.
Um
Wut?
You know what the "leftist playbook" is?
Scientific and investigative findings pointing toward effective policy interventions, with data to verify efficacy.
Sorry if that's a foreign language to you.
Fun facts
1) Teens (expletive)
2) People do drugs
Respond to incentives and allocate public funds to mitigating the consequences of both. And remember: This is your friendly neighborhood Libertarian-leaner talking.
Shoutout to harm reduction & positive public health outcomes
Buuuut...could you clarify how distributing helmets reduces teen pregnancy and intravenous drug use?
Teen pregnancies have dropped
Teen pregnancies have dropped to the lowest levels in decades and continue to decline the results of which are directly linked to free access to birth control and sex education. So yeah, take that libtards I guess?
And this teen pregnancy decline
is related to the distribution of helmets for scooters?
Probably something like...
Probably something like this.
(like just about everything to do with the so-called "gig economy", this strikes me as a damn hard dollar, but not at all implausible)
I see people do this without a car
They load up an extra scooter or two on their own scooter presumably to charge them.
Which, really, huge savings for the company - no wages or benefits to give, no company vehicles to use and maintain, and no use of company electricity to charge their public obstacles.
I hate them so, so much.
Well, they are GPS-tracked,
Well, they are GPS-tracked, so I wonder if one could just use that info to cut the power when it crosses the town line?
Or they could install an electronic perimeter around the town
line that would lock the wheels when the scooter attempts to cross, like they do with shopping carts at the edge of parking lots... Oh wait, that could end badly for the scooter operator.
Or they could get the TLF to guard the border.
In all seriousness, they could probably hire someone to track down wayward scooters and bring them back to Brookline.
They wouldn't have to lock the wheels
But they could instruct the scooter to gradually slow to a stop and then refuse to operate until it has been moved back within the geofence. There's also the option of fining users who repeatedly take the scooters outside the town limits.
but the wheel locking up
but the wheel locking up would be way more fun
I volunteer as tribute
to hurl these stupid scooters back into Brookline city limits with the fury of a thousands suns.
It's about time to monetize my Aggy Dorchester Temper, haha
It's where they end up that matters
If someone wants to pass through Boston from one point in Brookline to another, that should be OK. They just shouldn't leave it in Kenmore Square when they are done.
Just here for the usual
Just here for the usual comments about how unsafe these things are but cars are fine.
scooter prediction
ghost scooters will be everywhere.
rip Mr Butch
Not the same kind of scooters
We're talking little Razor-like things you have to stand on with batteries, not the ones that look like baby motorcycles.
Skateboards are less of a nuisance that these scooters
I remember the good ol' days when leaving something on the ground after you used it once signified that you didn't value that something.
And, whoooo...perhaps another post for another day but the City of Boston is long overdue in proclaiming it "Mr. Butch Day" and designating Commonwealth Ave and Harvard Avenue "Mr. Butch Square."
https://thecheesetapefactory.bandcamp.com/album/the-mr-butch-show
Why can't City Hall just take em and charge for their return?
Seems like a revenue generator for Boston. Send crews around to pick up the abandoned property each night. Lock them in impound. Charge the companies a few bucks each to get them back.
Even if the whole process is gauged to be only revenue-neutral, wouldn't it still be a win for the populaces of both cities?
Mexico City did a version of this.
The scooter companies used the same dumping-without-permit tactics that they used in the Boston area - it generates interest and demand, and gets consumers hooked, thereby making it more difficult for the city to issue a blanket ban (which there was for a hot second), and instead forces them into negotiations for permits.
One of the companies failed to submit required documentation by the deadline, so the city rounded up all the scooters and deposited them in impound. It was really satisfying to see them loaded up, knowing how expensive and difficult it is to get anything out of impound here.
They're back though. As usual, the little cat and mouse game plays out, a little extra money is paid, and documentation is magically "in order" again.
I doubt that, the additional income notwithstanding, Boston would want to put the energy and resources into constantly finding and impounding scooters. And I'm positive the scooter purveyors would negotiate their way to a "workaround".
Will these end up being
Will these end up being thrown into the harbor and vandalized by angry Bostonians who don’t like change? Like the lime bikes. Can’t wait for the 311 reports of a whicked smart Bostonian who can’t figure out how to walk around a parked scooted without filing a complaint.
Most of the people who file those complaints
are not old time Bostonians who grew up and live in the city. Neither are the anti-automobile extremist.
Can’t wait for the 311
Or some "weak" person in a wheelchair?
The Charles is more easily
The Charles is more easily accessed from Brookline.
These are going to make great space savers!
These are going to make great space savers! Too heavy to easily move out of the way when i want to save a space when i go away for a few days.
Hahaha!
Scooter space saver wars in Brookline would be VERY on-brand for Brookline aka "The Less Hot Version of Boston."
That will be tough
I don't think Brookline has overnight on-street parking ...
Scoot to my loo
Even tough because those turkeys are running Brookline apparently.
BU students will love these
The entire south side of Commonwealth Ave, from almost Packard's Corner to St. Mary's Street, is in Brookline.