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Comment by bosie | Hacker News Reader

5 miles one way? Genuine question but why would you want to commute 5 miles on a scooter multiple times a week compared to a bicycle?

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I think the biggest advantage scooters have over ebikes is that for a lot of people, there’s a place to store a scooter at both ends of a commute (under a desk) but not necessarily secure bike storage.

Also a huge advantage is the mobility of a scooter over a bike. With a scooter you are more flexible to changes in your day. Did a friend just message you during lunch to meet up for drinks in a different part of town? No probs, just take the scooter on the tube after work. Did the weather just change drastically? No probs, can quickly change to a different way of commute and the scooter doesn't feel like a huge showstopper whereas with a bike it all becomes really really complicated.

Bicycles in big cities are too inflexible. If all you want is to commute like a sheep from home to work and back to home every day then a bicyle is a great inexpensive and green choice, in every other case it's a problem. Unless of course you are in a small village, where a possible change of plans will still result in a short ride. In London this is not possible. If I was to meet friends spontaneously outside my daily commute area then it would be impossible with a bicycle.

I no longer live in London, but these scooters seem a bit big to go on a metro train.

The smallest folding bicycles (e.g. Brompton) are fine, but scooters must either be balanced upright, exposing dirty wheels, or take up a lot of floor space. No thanks!

In the largest cities like London, if my plans changed I'd just leave the bicycle at work, and take public transport to the party, home, and to work the next day (unless my way home passes work, then I can collect the bicycle).

Subways are hard, but many big cities have overland metros and/or buses that can take bikes just fine. Maybe the trip takes 10m more than the subway ride, but then you have the bike at the other end, speeding up the last mile.

I love my brompton foldable bike. much handier than a scooter :)

Not only that, but as a cyclist who took scooters to the office back when I worked in one, the main advantage was when I used a scooter I didn't show up sweaty.

It doesn't matter how slow you pedal, in the American Southeast, just being outside in the summer makes you sweat. A lot of places in this area don't have offices with showers in them. A scooter let me spend time outside without having to end up being a mess.

Exactly, I'm actually considering owning a scooter specifically for those situations where I don't have a secure place to store the bike at the other end of travel or during some interval.

Isn't this (under desk storage) why folding bikes exist?

Folding bikes are either clumsy or expensive compared to electric scooters like the Xiaomi. The folding mechanism is rarely anywhere near as nice as a scooter.

What? Decent folding bikes have excellent mechanisms these days. Meanwhile most electric scooters don’t fold at all and have a tendency to topple over if you touch them wrong.

All the rental scooters have been modified so they don't fold for durability. The consumer grade ones all fold. Folding bikes are a lot pricier than the $300 xiaomi m365 that I regularly see on craigslist for $150.

The biggest reason for me would be to prevent sweating in your work outfit. On a scooter you can go fully dressed for work.

I enjoyed biking in Austin, but as you can imagine the intense heat a good portion of the year meant a full outfit change and shower after every ride just to start the day.

Many electric scooter models fold into a small form factor, so they are easy to bring on public transit and you can bring it to your desk (making them much less likely to be stolen).

Also they have less of a learning curve compared to biking on roads, and are easier to maintain, IMO.

In certain cities, that might actually be faster than driving.

Me and my friends accidentally ended up testing that theory in LA. We were going to koreatown from Santa Monica and had about 10 miles left. Half of us decided to use limebikes, another half ended up taking uber. The people on limebikes arrived at about the same time, despite the whole scooter group having to stop every 30-40 minutes and search for another scooter, since in a group of 5 people riding those, there would inevitable be one that is running out of charge in that time interval.

Anything that you can lane split with is faster than driving in LA. My bike commute is faster than the car commute since I zip on by at 15mph while everyone is suffering at like 6-10mph in traffic. Motorcycles just go the posted speed limit and don't feel traffic at all, but I know I'd die if I started riding a motorcycle here.

If I bike past 3 miles I'm gonna start sweating, and pushing 5 miles I start feeling it on bad air days. With the scooter you just stand still and don't have to do any special layering. People ride them in suits.

An ebike solves that. Which one is more comfortable/safer? I haven't ridden an electric scooter so I don't know.

ebikes for sure. Bigger wheels go over potholes better, and only the original bird scooters actually had air in their tires, the rest are just hard rubber that feels pretty rough/bone-rattly on bad roads.

Safety wise, I'd say they are about even. Cars aren't going to value your life either way.

I have never tried a scooter, is it really that easy doing a full stop with a scooter at 25km/h safely?

Another advantage is that scooters place less restrictions on how you are dressed. Dresses, shoes not meant for exercise, etc.

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