Hacker News Reader

Comment by JDEW | Hacker News Reader

I feel the same about these electric scooter services like Bird, Lime, etc. Most European cities are very walkeable and so you’re not “getting another car off the road” as Bird will happily tell you. You’re paying for the luxury that you’re 2 minutes faster compared to walking.

View on HN

I pay for that luxury, and I like it. For me it‘s a short-distance bicycle without the parking problem (i.e. need to pick up my bike later). I live in Stockholm.

For longer distances I prefer bicycles. In London, for example, the Santander bikes are fantastic.

Anecdotal evidence, but I work with tons of people who ride those scooters to work. Most of them have one of their own though.

I have taken scooters where I would otherwise have taken a taxi. A minority of my rides though.

The problem with this in my city is that the scooters are substantially more expensive than the taxi, which doesn't make any sense. I've often found that I can choose between a 1h scooter ride or a 30m taxi ride, and the scooter would be about twice the price.

I've used them a few times just for the fun of riding, and they are probably cheaper for very short distances, but that's it.

The traffic is so bad in my city that a 30 minute taxi ride is as fast as a 15 minute scooter ride in many days.

A restaurant is just paying for the luxury to have someone else cook, serve, and clean up.

Sounds like it could be a sustainable business.

A restaurant is about the whole experience, for having someone else to cook there are pizza, donner, kebab, pita, shawarma, sandwiches,....

That's splitting hairs. Restaurants can be fancy or functional, they can serve fast food or slow food etc. McDonald's is a restaurant, as is The Fat Duck.

What they all have in common, and the main appeal, is that they cook things better or faster or with less effort than you would, and they spare you the effort of cleaning up afterwards.

McDonald's wished it was a restaurant.

There is a reason why food trucks aren't called a restaurant on wheels.

A restaurant is any place where you get cooked food in exchange for money, and have a place to sit down.

I think you may be ascribing more weight to the etymology of food trucks than is intended. Most food trucks one finds in small to mid sized urban areas are small, effective restaurants in outdoor dining areas. Absolutely part of the experience.

You take those scooters for 2 reasons:

1. For fun 2. To go somewhere far and fast ( cause you are in a hurry )

Reply on news.ycombinator.com