SF wants startups to behave, so why did it reject the ‘nice guy’ of e-scooters?

All forms to be submitted to any government entity have to be reviewed by lawyers because they will be read with intent to reject rather than accept. I saw variations of this many times.

It is a sad reality, but that is the current state of government interaction.

Scooters are massively profitable. They cost $1 for 3 minutes and their acquisition cost is lower than $500 with zero cost to operate except for charging and repairs, where the charging cost is negligible and repair cost is fixed. I took a few rides and paid more than $5-7 per ride, which is comparable to an Uber ride but where the company incurred no expense foe the driver. 100 rides pays for the thing and after that it’s pure profit.

Aside from the way his application was rejected, you’d think if the city was valuing the ability of the company underlying the scooter service to provide a stable service, good support and jobs (even if contract work) they wouldn’t put that much faith in a startup with just their series A raised right? I don’t know the economics of these scooter companies, but they must be burning cash to operate and the companies SF ended up choosing have plenty of cash to burn.