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Comment by bb2018 | Hacker News Reader

bb2018

I could not be more upset that people who have stated progressive goals such as cutting down on fuel and providing cheap public transportation are against these. They are an absolutely great alternative that makes these goals possible without having to completely overhaul city designs. The only externality really seems to be they are parked in random places - but I don't see how that is any different than cars parked on streets which are actually much more disruptive. Now more people can get to work or do errands cheaply without the need for a huge car or spending extra time with consolidated public transporation.

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Cars park in designated spots on streets, they are (generally) not randomly dropped onto sidewalks and parks.

The issue for me is the co-opting of public space for private enterprise in the least considerate way possible. People leave these scooters like litter in parks, sidewalks, and lakes.

You could object that this is an overly precious perspective, but I would counter that similar startups (ZipCar most notably) have solved this by contemplating the logistical implications from the get go.

I personally would not object the assigning some percentage of parking spots in neighborhoods as designated parking for shares, and would hope such a contract will emerge.

I certainly understand the dockless advantage here, but the result for those of us who don't use them is garbage some random company feels entitled to clutter up the sidewalks with.

Everything you said could apply equally well to cars.

Especially "the result for those of us who don't use them is garbage some random company(and individuals) feels entitled to clutter up the sidewalks(streets) with".

Also, what does private enterprises have to do with any of this? If anything I think there's a stronger argument the other way. Things that are owned by and only benefit a single person (e.g. driving my car and then leaving it parked on the street all day) is a worse use of space than things that are useful to many people (e.g. a Zipcar that gets frequent use, or, yes, scooters).

I hope you can recognize that your stated arguments here are not very honest, and that what you're actually saying is "I like privately owned cars so I want cities to prioritize them over other modes of transportation like scooters".

Cars stole that space from people walking, horses, carts, bicycles, donkeys, livestock, etc.

For thousands of years it was normal for children to play in the street, for people to stop and converse, etc.

Then drivers turned up, said "move or I will kill you", and weirdly we decided the streets were for cars. It grates when people say that people walking have any less right to stand in the middle of the street because they're not wearing a car.

This was the result of a concerted PR campaign. https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2012/04/invention-jay...

Do the people look out of place here? http://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/c/c/3/a/cc3a56fafeaa6119/S...

Perhaps we should take some space from cars (really, from people who happen to be in cars) and give it back to people.

Cars had to "disrupt" their way into getting a bunch of infrastructure built for them too; they weren't sitting in factories until streets were filled with parking spaces and traffic signs.

One of the strategies was to have officials take them and then be annoyed enough to change legislation. (eg there was a 3 km/h speed limit for the first car, then they went to fetch some officials from the train station with it. The legislation was changed very fast after that.)

Why "some percentage"? I personally am ready to start "parking" my dockless shared bike in parking spots. I don't use cars, but I have to put up with them taking up a huge percentage of public space in my neighborhood.

All road side parking should be removed from cities and replaced with bike/scooter parks. So many problems would be gone instantly including drivers seriously injuring people on a regular basis while opening their doors.

They are fairly commonly left in ways that make it difficult for pedestrians in wheel chairs/walkers/blind.

Yes, when I see that I move them. Just like I've spent years moving commercial sidewalk signs. Why is it only now that an environmentally beneficial and actually USEFUL item is causing trouble that the rest of you have started to care about wheelchair users and blind people?

It’d be fairly easy to designate a spot on every block for scooter/bike/etc parking. Much easier and space efficient than creating parking spaces.

Here’s an example that Santa Monica is trying: https://www.10news.com/news/santa-monica-creates-parking-spa...

All those giant-ass trucks Americans ride around in (usually on their own) are making it difficult for bike lanes or walking paths to even exist!

I don't have any problem at all with people who own scooters. They seem great.

I have a lot of problems with a) companies seizing arbitrary amounts of public space for private businesses, b) venture-funded litter cluttering the streets, and c) novice scooter riders with no training turned loose on sidewalks I am trying to walk and not die on.

And I also have a lot of left-over ire for scofflaw companies. Yes, Uber got away with it. But no, would-be titans, that's not permission for you guys. It was a one-time trick.

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