ChiScooterTracker

What do we do now?

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

The ongoing @DivvyBikes shutdown raises an "interesting" issue with respect to these centrally-controlled mobility services (see also, #scooters): a government can engage technical measures to shut down the service and thereby restrict mobility for a large number of people. 1/

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

@greg_shill The best ideas are the oldest.

One time I invented decentralized, emission free, chain-to-block secured, personal transportation and made it to a Series C before anyone realized I was opening a bike shop.

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

@greg_shill (d) venture capitalists will IPO Goodwill and its new “G-threads” clothing-as-a-service app along with six other “disruptive” clothing technologies at $100bn valuation and a $2bn/quarter burn rate

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

Well this has been a pretty boring pilot.

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

@BlockClubCHI I’ve always told people that you really gotta visit four times in a row to get a feel for the place. Glad the voters agree.

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

@BlockClubCHI Pretty sure those business owners could buy land and convert it to parking spaces to serve their private establishments if it’s so important to them.

Oh did you mean they wanted it for free?

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

@ChicagoScooters @limebike @bikelaneuprise Seems like it should... another thing that’s not technically difficult, just VC money that would be spent on work for engineers that’s being spent on marketing instead.

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

You ever have a houseguest who seems to take over your house and leave a mess everywhere?

Yeah, me too. Photo unrelated.

#chiscooter20 #bikechi @limebike @bikelaneuprise

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

On Michigan between 13th and 14th.

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

@ChicagoScooters I don’t know how “one in eight” even means tens of thousands of rides. Over what time period? What’s current rider volume per week? Is it going to take a month?

Presenting this math as ratios and not absolutes really doubles down on the deception.

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

@West_Looper @ChicagoScooters Who could have seen this coming!? Who! Who I say!

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

@ChicagoScooters Yes, that's definitely improved--though they are literally bolted down now, so kudos to whoever came up with that idea.

I do get the impression that the #bikechi folks are legitimately pissed about the bike racks being overtaken. I think that complaint seems pretty valid.

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

@ChicagoScooters @limebike I think I’ve honestly seen like four riders total so far. And one was on the sidewalk.

If volume stays low, I don’t see how this “pilot” can really be declared a “success”. It can certainly still fail, but these aren’t really conditions where you could show it’s a viable model.

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

If there weren’t a pandemic and Wicker Park Athletic Club were still open, I imagine people would be up in arms that @limebike took all the bike racks. But right now...🤷‍♂️

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

@ChicagoScooters @limebike I think it seems a bit like a tree falling in a forest with no one around right now.

With significantly lower pedestrian and CTA traffic, many people unemployed or working from home, and lingering concerns about contact-based infection, I have to belive demand/use is way down.

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

I was going to crack-wise that maybe they’ll include “building an exit ramp for unfunded pension liabilities” in this plan, but I actually think if we’re all going bankrupt from public pensions, we should spend every last cent on immovable, un-privitizable, state-owned assets.

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

@ChicagoScooters I’ve been using TransitApp to see all three at the same time, which makes life a little easier...still not really “easy.” The city should operate a clearinghouse for this.

They’re all supposed to have GBFS feeds, but I can’t find @ridespin’s and @limebike’s is endless Captchas.

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

Finally saw my first scooter rider of the season. Rider was on the sidewalk headed south on Ashland.

Embarrassed to say I was so caught off guard I couldn’t get a picture. Think I’m out of practice.

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

The @ChicagoDOT site says they install “500 bike racks per year” but they just added 10,000 scooters for the pilot. Last I checked you can’t fit 20 bikes on a rack, so it seems this pilot is once again creating scarcity in public resources to benefit private companies.

[CDOT @ChicagoDOT]

@bikelaneuprise Please understand this is a four month pilot project - and the lock -to requirement is to keep the public way accessible for all. We have a robust bike parking program with 15,000+ racks installed to date. To request a new rack go to: https://t.co/wUyF5R0fAh.

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

@greg_shill Until then everything else is just buying time.

But if they can control their fleets, delivery of humans or goods is going to be suuuper lucrative for them at their scale, especially without any large competitors. Imagine if Maersk and MSC were the only two container shippers...

[ChiScooterTracker @ScooterChi]

@greg_shill Without drivers and with their giant user-customer networks (who own fewer cars), they would be well positioned to become either fleet managers or broker-like (cf. netjets) and harvest profit from the spread between fleet operating costs and private ownership.