Jump to content
IGNORED

Bad news for town lake


AustinBike

Recommended Posts

15 minutes ago, June Bug said:

ETA:  AustinBike, you may be able to weigh in on the economic repercussions to these companies, but it seems the cost of insurance coupled with an onslaught of successful lawsuits over injuries would drive some of these companies out of business or just make it financially unfeasible to continue. 

They will probably be able to avoid liability in most lawsuits. If you get a ride share with Uber and the driver has an accident, Uber is *somewhat* on the hook (but, mostly the driver is going to be at fault). It is *generally* clear on where liability lies because there has been enough (recent) case law; they are on the hook if it was known that the driver had issues, but that is a much longer discussion.

However, when you rent a scooter it is like renting a car. If I rent a car from Hertz and then plow into you, I am more on the hook than Hertz is. They are only on the hook if for some reason they should not have rented to me. The scooter companies are probably protected for the most part. BUT, with that being said, where scooter companies are screwed is not with financial liability but with safety regulation. As soon as helmets are mandated on all scooter riders, they all implode. THAT kills the business model. So, these CDC investigations could really kill the business, mostly with regulation, not lawsuits.

Where they may be exposed is if a very drunk person rents a scooter and dies as the family would go after the scooter company. When a scooter hits a vehicle or a pedestrian the liability most likely lands on the scooter driver and not the scooter company.

All in, it is a very complicated situation. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

scooters are like cars in the 1900s. People are going to have to figure out how this new technology fits into everyday life.
I think they are great and would love to close down roads downtown and limit them to personal transport.
 

How do I get to my house I paid for?

On another note, I do think scooters are the hover board we saw in Back to the Future. And I’m the only one here whose lawn actually has scooters riding in it which is ironic. We have a thread full of people in the Burbs saying “get off my lawn.”



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just saw 3 scooters parked on a corner, blocking the ADA ramps at Breaker and Stonelake.  So they're up north now.  Saw a dude also riding it on the sidewalk in front of NXNW on 360 & Stonelake.  On Tuesday a guy was in point-6 at Walnut Creek on one of those one-wheel things.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw a bonewipe on Burnet, north of 45th, taking the right hand lane. He was blocking rush hour traffic, even thought there is a 6' wide sidewalk that he could have been riding on. Full-on hipster with the beard and sunglasses. I ride that stretch all the time to get to pinthouse and I use the sidewalk because a.) it's legal, b.) it's safer and c.) it maximizes the traffic flow for the drivers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I commute back and forth to Hyde Park Gym, usually three times a week:  down Parkfield from Braker, crossing under 183 at Fairfield, down Grover, over to Guadalupe via Brentwood, then Avenue A.  I never ride on the Guadalupe bike lanes south of 45 th St. 

A few months ago I saw a guy on a motorized skateboard on Guadalupe, just past Brentwood, using the bike lane.  I was fine with that since he was already halfway down the block by the time I turned on to Guad.

I start seeing scooters (both ridden and lying around everywhere) once I hit the Hyde Park neighborhood.  Parking at UT is a nightmare; I can see the utility of scooters for getting back and forth to class from a close-in neighborhood with minimal traffic like Hyde Park. I also can see a scenario where UT employees park in a more outlying neighborhood and scooter in to work.  Where I don't see scooters is at the UT bus stop at the Intermural Fields.  I'd be interested to know UT's policy about scooters on campus 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, DesertNomad said:

I saw some staged at the stairs at Mt Bonnell. I was hoping to see someone try to ride down Mt Bonnell Rd towards 35th and wax-out at the hairpin at the bottom.

wait, can those thing go up or down Mt. Bonnell? I've ridden my bike up that hill both ways, and that slope is no joke.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/8/2018 at 8:45 PM, AntonioGG said:

I just saw 3 scooters parked on a corner, blocking the ADA ramps at Breaker and Stonelake.  So they're up north now.  Saw a dude also riding it on the sidewalk in front of NXNW on 360 & Stonelake.  On Tuesday a guy was in point-6 at Walnut Creek on one of those one-wheel things.

 

There were two of them out there. We encountered them on log loop. They were both standing in the middle of the trail next to a little root step. One of them when had a SUP paddle for some reason.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/7/2018 at 7:19 AM, AustinBike said:

Nope.

Let me put on my economics hat for a second (since I use my degree about twice a year these days).

Scooters operate in a different economic sphere. The real danger to bike shops are wives and children. Scooters compete with walking, taxicabs, buses, and ride share. All of these are essentially zero investment activities on the front end with varying degrees of flexibility - mass transit is cheap, per-ride consumption, but are fixed in route/time. Scooters, taxis, and ride share are more expensive but more flexible from a timing and route perspective.

Bikes compete with cars: some investment on the front end and ownership costs. Cars have less flexibility and also incur parking costs. Bikes will compete with self-purchased scooters (not Bird or Lime but the ones you can buy, own and maintain yourself.)

The reason that bike shops are in danger of children is that people spend a lot of money on bikes when they are single. But if they marry a non-biker, that revenue stream either stops or is greatly diminished quickly. Then children come along and there is not enough time. So mid-20's through early 40's you probably see a huge drop in bike shop spending that then kicks in as the kids are self-sufficient or divorces kick in (yeah, dark thought but let's face it, economists don't care about such things, just the facts.) 

If I were a bike shop owner and I had money to throw around on lobbying and trying to juice the market, I would invest in the following:

  • Propose legislation to make Tinder, Match and the rest of the online dating sites more difficult to use
  • Invest in Trojan and other condom manufacturers
  • Lobby to make divorce easier to execute
  • Lobby to increase the cost of marriage licenses

Notice that scooters aren't on that list. Shops only compete with purchased scooters and in that domain as a shop, I'd probably start carrying a scooter line as it can be complimentary to the bikes I am already selling.

When you have the time, health and freedom during your youth, you're usually not making much and by the time your earning potential is realized, you've usually taken on other high priority responsibilities, like houses, spouses, children, cars, etc, so I think it all evens out. I'd bet that a higher number of expensive bikes are purchased by husbands or dads than by single young bucks.

I also wonder if Bamwa's point is more valid than one might expect. Mountain bike snobs might not even notice them but most shops carry a line or two of relatively cheap "urban" bikes like Fairdale and Electra. I bet they sell 5 Fairdales for every >$3k MTB. Those types of hipster bikes might go down in sales. Or maybe people who are choosing the scooters are mutually exclusive to people who have a bike as an alternative. It would be interesting to know this user info.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, Big_papa_nuts said:

There were two of them out there. We encountered them on log loop. They were both standing in the middle of the trail next to a little root step. One of them when had a SUP paddle for some reason.

They better not be using that paddle as a shovel to dig out any rocks they find in the way of their "flow". Maybe they were using it to cut out roots.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Anita Handle said:

When you have the time, health and freedom during your youth, you're usually not making much and by the time your earning potential is realized, you've usually taken on other high priority responsibilities, like houses, spouses, children, cars, etc, so I think it all evens out. I'd bet that a higher number of expensive bikes are purchased by husbands or dads than by single young bucks.

I also wonder if Bamwa's point is more valid than one might expect. Mountain bike snobs might not even notice them but most shops carry a line or two of relatively cheap "urban" bikes like Fairdale and Electra. I bet they sell 5 Fairdales for every >$3k MTB. Those types of hipster bikes might go down in sales. Or maybe people who are choosing the scooters are mutually exclusive to people who have a bike as an alternative. It would be interesting to know this user info.

I would bet that the scooter purchasers are a completely different market from bike purchasers. I am betting the biggest intersection of scooters and bikes are college students and the question is “bring a bike to school or use a scooter?”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've seen guys on long skateboards with rubber tipped SUP type "paddles" (look like big Q-tips) and they're actually using them to push themselves, that's on the paved path.  Were these actually paddles you saw and was it the guys on the one-wheels?  I've seen 3 one-wheels together at point-6 one day, then another one by himself the other day none with any kind of stick or paddle.  They seemed to be doing their own thing not messing with the trail, not going any faster or slower than other bike users.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, AntonioGG said:

I've seen guys on long skateboards with rubber tipped SUP type "paddles" (look like big Q-tips) and they're actually using them to push themselves, that's on the paved path.  Were these actually paddles you saw and was it the guys on the one-wheels?  I've seen 3 one-wheels together at point-6 one day, then another one by himself the other day none with any kind of stick or paddle.  They seemed to be doing their own thing not messing with the trail, not going any faster or slower than other bike users.

I used to work with a guy that would ride his longboard to work using one of those things, the guy on the One Wheel just had a standard plastic SUP paddle. They just seemed to be making their way through the trails as best as they could. I just thought it was weird.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Bamwa said:

To AB, Helmets are required on Limes it just isn't enforced but it's in the fine print. Tbh, I collect more pokemon go's when on a scooter cuz then it's easier to poke them with my sup stick.

Not required by Lime, required by the city.

The Lime helmet requirement is something their lawyers probably had them add as a law suit prevention tool.

If cops could ticket scooter riders for not having a helmet the scooter businesses would fold in a month.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That kid is either yelling at it or trying to take a bite out the saddle. 

Devil's Advocate: I would love build my kids' love for mountain biking (and I'm trying). The problem is that I am selfish. When I have the time to ride, I want to fucking shred. I ain't got no time to be waitin' for a scrawny kid to play catchup. 

Sure, I bet it is expensive, but if I had deeper pockets I'd buy one for my kids.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...