In defense of the personal scooter
They may get a bad rap, but I'm convinced that everyone needs a scooter
Personal electric scooters can just look silly. There is still a stigma about a grown man in business attire getting around town on a scooter. Sure, that's not the case everywhere. Most urban centers have become more accepting of non-traditional modes of transportation. But there are still plenty of places where people still may do a double take seeing someone zip around on anything that isn't a car or bike.
Why is that?
Do scooters and skateboards just look like too much fun to be considered legitimate adult forms of transportation? Are people still traumatized from the golden days of scooter share programs where half-working scooters littered sidewalks, bike lanes, and plenty of other places they didn't belong?
Or maybe they just don't seem safe or reliable.
Whatever the reasons, I'm now convinced that virtually everyone could benefit from having a small, personal, electric scooter to use in certain situations.
Let's examine why.
Don't get me wrong, I love bikes. I love e-bikes, I love acoustic bikes, I love cargo bikes. There is a reason that the bicycle has been used for so long. It's a damn near perfect way to get around. You can make it faster, safer, or more comfortable, but it's basically the same idea. You ride on it and it takes you places. Not too complicated. And for the most part, these bikes are lightweight and easy to store.
So I still prefer to get around by bike whenever I can. Taking my kid to school, grocery shopping, most personal errands within five miles, bike all the way.
But some of those things that make bikes so great can also be applied to electric scooters. In an ideal world, we're looking to transport ourselves around in the most economic way possible. I don't mean that strictly in the monetary sense although cycling and scootering tends to cost less than driving a car. I mean it in the sense of using the least amount of materials and energy to move ourselves from place to place.
Hopping onto a 25 pound electric scooter and traveling a mile by yourself is much more efficient than sitting yourself in 5,000 lb. SUV with 6 unused seats and traveling the same distance right?
The humble electric scooter can easily transport singular humans in an extremely efficient manner. No, you likely can't fit all of your groceries or kids aboard (although cargo scooters are becoming a thing) but for most other solo endeavors, it's a great way to get around.
And I've found the sweet spot for scooters where they're arguably better than bikes. Multi-modal transportation. For a while I was fascinated with folding bikes. Brands like Brompton, GoCycle, and Tern have come up with extremely clever solutions to transform your bike into a piece of origami art work. And that's fantastic for some use cases. But even the most folded up bike is less or equally as convenient to carry as a folded up scooter.
Folding bikes may be safer in some instances. And even if they're electrified, you're still getting more exercise on one than when you're just standing on an electric scooter or skateboard doing nothing. But the practicality and portability of a lightweight electric scooter is pretty impossible to beat.
And yes, there are plenty of cheap, terrible scooters out there. They likely won't be as durable or reliable as a bike. They aren't nearly as useful when the battery dies. They certainly have plenty of potential problems. But when you're able to quickly zip around on a scooter, fold it up, and take it into a store or restaurant, it feels like a cheat code. If the battery dies or you don't feel like riding it, you can carry it onto virtually any bus, train, ferry, or taxi. This is something that can't be said for all bikes. If you've ever attempted to load you bike onto the front of a bus when it's already filled with other bikes or tried to squeeze a bike onto a train during rush hour, you know the pain.
Bikes also need to left outside of most establishments. That means you'll need to be carrying around a lock or even multiple locks to ensure that it will still be there when you return. Taking a small scooter inside and placing it under your table at a cafe is really the best form of theft protection.
We're still really early on in the lifespan of electric scooters. There are a few brands out there that are doing good work, but there are more brands that just deliver inexpensive garbage that will be obsolete in a year or two. Sadly, it can be really hard to tell the difference sometimes. And don't even get me started on aesthetics. Most electric scooters just look like boring black slabs at best and hyped-up testosterone injected monsters at worst. Very few companies have struck a balance or married form with function.
What I'm saying is that virtually every electric scooter I've ridden, read about, rented, or Googled has been slightly less than perfect. It's really hard to recommend one magical scooter that works for everyone, and this piece isn't the time to get into specific reviews of brands and models.
Having said all that, I still think that the technology is advanced enough that everyone who can afford to own one should own one. Even the most expensive electric scooters are far less than owning a car, so they may be viable for more people than you'd think. Hell, scooters and cars can even live in perfect harmony! Unlike bikes, it's much easier to keep a folded up electric scooter in the trunk of your car for any time you may need it.
It's basically the utopian future that Honda envisioned with their Motocompo back in the day. Use the car to cover long distance freeway miles. Then park it on the outskirts of the city and pull out your trunk scooter to get you to your final destination. Maybe ironically, I think the modern Motocompacto is too heavy and underpowered to serve that role. A less expensive, faster, more compact electric scooter will serve you better as the last mile trunk accessory.
All I'm saying is that the electric scooter has come a long way since the early days of Lime, Bird, and the dozens of other rental scooters that flooded the streets of cities all over the world. No disrespect to those companies, I still think that shared mobility solutions like that are helpful. But it's a far more enjoyable experience to ride a scooter that you're familiar with and maybe has some upgrades and creature comforts that the rental models lack. Also, I hope you'd take much better care of a personal scooter than the ones that you rent by the minute. Those things were always in really rough shape.
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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