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Comment by mc32 | Hacker News Reader

I don't often agree with the supes, but here I do. There really needs to be planning and coordination with the government with things like these.

There is only so much bandwidth for modes of transportation that cannot allow leisez-fair transit to run amok in the city. Proceed with a well developed plan with all stakeholders in mind.

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On the other hand, we're talking about motor scooters as a hazard and nuisance while there is human excrement on the sidewalks.

One is supplied by a corporation that can be negotiated with and for whom well-established regulations exist. The other is a very, very difficult problem.

Is your argument that, until the homeless problem is dealt with, we should stop doing _anything_ else? I'm not sure that helps.

I'm arguing that fecal matter and used needles are biohazards that are vectors for fatal disease while the scooters are mostly annoying and perhaps unfair.

Do we give a pass to local government to get very sober about scooters being bad for sidewalks while the elephant in the room smells like stale urine and can give you hepatitis?

Yes, we give them “a pass” to do their jobs. We elect them to manage all the affairs of government, including the easy ones.

If you applied the same philosophy to Honda and Toyota, the scooters would win hands-down.

Sure, when people begin to be born, live, work and die in the same building, until then, people will also need long distance transport modes.

New entrants have to cede priority to established systems and work within a framework to augment the systems -- else we end up with things like the millions of dead ebikes we see in China, for example.

Electric scooters can do 25km, which is a pretty decent distance.

>else we end up with things like the millions of dead ebikes we see in China

We end up with things like this in America too: https://slate.com/business/2018/04/astounding-photos-capture...

None of those bikes we saw piled up in China were ebikes and they were all going to be recycled. The VW cars are awaiting regulatory approval for export or resale. The scooters on the other hand are difficult to recycle and weren't even designed for shared use.

SF is 7mi across, no one is suggesting you take the scooter to Tahoe.

What we are saying is, that for every scooter someone is using, thats one less uber trip being taken.

Would you rather those people in the scooters drive?

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