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Comment by opportune | Hacker News Reader

I’m very greatful for what Segway did for the “micro-mobility” industry.

But personally I think electric scooters are the future rather than e-bikes. They are simpler to maintain and cheaper to produce. I think eventually (in the next 5 years) they will get significantly cheaper as well, owing to improvements in competition, volume, and battery tech - imagine if the current M365 cost only $100 new. They’re fast enough for the bike lane or streets, and they’re small enough that it’s less scary encountering them on a sidewalk. And you can bring them on public transportation more easily.

Even now you can get that M365 for less than $400 (think I paid 350), amortized over a year that’s about $1/day and all you need to do is keep the tires pumped/replaced and charge it. It’s perfect for me for “last mile” to and form public transportation

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Electric scooters have the same problem with segways in that they are too fast for sidewalks but too slow for bike lanes. And when you want to make a left turn, the scooter just can't go fast enough for you to safely merge onto the left-turn lane for cars like a bike can, so you end up waiting for two traffic lights like a pedestrian.

I use my scooter a lot in San Francisco and I’ve found that I’m normally going faster than many of the bikers in the bike lane (>15mph). I also don’t have that problem turning, although sometimes I cheat and kick-scoot at sidewalk crossings. It would definitely depend on the environment though - I’m sure in more heavily suburban areas with faster speed limits, more lanes, and less stop-and-go they would not feel safe to ride around cars. But I do think they’re pretty compatible with biking infrastructure

At least where I live scooters have a max speed of 25 km/h, and very few cyclists go faster than that in a city environment.

After 6 months of practice only few bikes were faster than my scooter (25 km/h), I never experienced issues with turns.

Only issue is the rough roads - when I want to ride on the rough roads I use bike.

In every other aspect e-scooter is better: doesn't require special outfit; I don't sweat; it's compact enough to take it to the shop or cafe (without bending); less details I need to care about - pedals, brakes, speed switches, saddle - I just use what I've bought and it works fine. My bikes usually worth ~$500 (same as e-scooter) and they requiere some fixes/replacements from time to time. Scooter had just one flat tire replacement, that's all.

No they don't. Electric scooters are definitely fast enough for bike lanes. Most cyclists in urban areas are only going like 12-15 mph, well within electric scooter speeds.

What’s the solution for the safety problem of scooters, where a small obstacle can send the rider flying forwards into a broken jaw?

Don’t ride a scooter?

Limiting speed. E = m*v^2

Bigger wheels.

Like... Like a bike?

Yeah! But without the ridiculous pedaling nonsense. So... not like a bike.

Like an e-bike then?

Like the bicycles from 19th century, bigger front wheel.

Happens with bikes as well. People wear helmets for a reason.

And as it turns out the proponents of helmet wearing for bicycles are car companies. Bike helmets don't really do much to protect the front or sides of the face, only impacts directly to the top of the head.

So people wearing helmets riding on bikes are mostly doing it for legal not safety reasons, regardless if they know it or not.

Ride it on good roads and use your good judgment regarding speed vs. quality of the road. You can also decrease your tire pressure if you want, though that has drawbacks. I just don't see this as much of a problem. I think mine maxes out somewhere between 15-20 mph

They look interesting but are illegal in the UK.

They are illegal to use on the street and the pavement/sidewalk at the moment - you can legally use one on private land (with permission etc).

However this is likely to change very soon since COVID-19 - there is "urgent legislation" on e-scooter rental trials going on: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legalising-renta...

Infuriatingly, privately owned e-scooters will remain illegal even if rental fleets are legal. I do not understand why it would be legal to drive a rented e-scooter, but illegal to drive a privately owned e-scooter :-/

Maximum speed of 12.5 mph, that's not great. Why do they not simply let electric scooters be treated the same as bikes?

The law is out of date. e-bikes are just cycles under the road transport act, electric scooters are 'mechanically propelled vehicles' - i.e. just like cars and trucks.

In theory a scooter would be legal on roads if you could convince the DfT you met the safety regs, had a type certificate, license plate, VIN etc - it would still be illegal to use on a bike lane and I don't know that anyone has managed to do this!

Or 15.5 potentially. I believe that the popular Xiaomi m365 does 15.5mph

I agree it is not super-fast, but for use in urban environments 15mph would be pretty usable I reckon. My pre-lockdown commute in london on the tube would take about 35 minutes door to door. Walking it is 4.2 miles, cycling 4.9 miles. lets call it 5 miles for sake of argument.

So for a 12.5mph scooter it would be 24 minutes. For a 15.5mph scooter it would be 20 minutes.

That is pretty good I reckon - it takes me 10 minutes to walk to the tube station, so to be half-way/almost half-way to work before I would have even got to the station would be pretty decent I think.

Only thing is, this all makes sense when it is glorious sunshine and warm outside. It might be less appealing in December :-)

It is infuriating!, and I do hope is only for the duration of these 'trials' to help manage them.

But the Government's hand is being partly forced here. Despite the current legal situation many many people have e-scooters and use the on the streets.

They are widely sold, even on the high street by major chains like Halford's etc, and the current restrictions are widely ignored or not seen as a priority by all parties, as it is quite rightly seen as hopelessly out of date by everyone expect perhaps the Department for Transport.

Being actively confiscated in Gloucestershire. Overt Police social media warning people not to use them.

I believe they have changed the rules to be more permissive in a number of counties in the UK as way of a pilot:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/mar/16/electric-sc...

> But the scooters, which are already in widespread, if unlawful, use across the UK, will initially only be allowed in four “future transport zones”: Portsmouth and Southampton; the West of England Combined Authority (WECA); Derby and Nottingham; and the West Midlands.

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