# Electric scooters, the scourge of residential neighborhoods **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 14, 2025, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970 "2025-10-14T20:05:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/41 "2025-10-15T19:55:27Z")
How about a beer: [![](https://cdn.beeradvocate.com/im/beers/222426.jpg) ](https://cdn.beeradvocate.com/im/beers/222426.jpg) Or a bar: [![](https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/Se7o5-oN1dhW1Dd-l29cCA/348s.jpg) ](https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/Se7o5-oN1dhW1Dd-l29cCA/348s.jpg) (the bar is on a street called Howell Ave, hence “Thirst On Howell III”) [![](https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/C5612AQEnn9z2aVDscQ/article-cover_image-shrink_600_2000/article-cover_image-shrink_600_2000/0/1558711184773?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=SvbjT6m2Cb2JqliDkz6RJcvb0KRIZpygNCCuCKLnQm8) ](https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/C5612AQEnn9z2aVDscQ/article-cover_image-shrink_600_2000/article-cover_image-shrink_600_2000/0/1558711184773?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=SvbjT6m2Cb2JqliDkz6RJcvb0KRIZpygNCCuCKLnQm8) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/42 "2025-10-15T20:30:41Z")
> [@The\_Librarian](#): > > Did you compare the amount of room those scooters occupy vs. cars? > > Carbrain is a terrible affliction. Agreed that car users tend to develop a high degree of obliviousness about the inconveniences cars pose for non-car-users (speaking as a lifelong pedestrian and infrequent car user). To be fair, though, it’s true that at this point most municipalities that have introduced e-scooters haven’t done a great job of designating spaces for them, either while in use or while parked. And they haven’t (yet?) achieved any noticeable reduction in car use sufficient to free up existing space. So the overall impact for most non-scooter-users is that the scooters are just further reducing the limited available space and getting in people’s way. Disclaimer: I spent several weeks recently in a city with a pretty well-run e-scooter program, and tried out the system a few times (had never ridden a scooter before). It’s a handy option for pedestrians, but I sympathize with people who find the scooters a bit alarming. I found them a bit alarming myself, especially when I was riding one! No actual accidents, but that was as least as much good luck as good judgement. On the other hand, if we had more car-free urban areas with more versatile public transit options, we could accommodate a lot more individual transport modes without crowding people up so much. Ride your e-scooter, or bicycle or motorcycle or e-bike or tricycle or unicyle or skateboard or traffic-trained donkey or whatever, in the street and park it at the curb; plenty of room for everybody. If we didn’t have so many individuals taking it for granted that they need a vehicle \> 100 cubic feet in volume just to transport their \< 3 cubic feet individual human bodies over short distances, trying to accommodate less wasteful modes of transport wouldn’t be such a chore. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/43 "2025-10-15T20:56:44Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > The company could charge a deposit which would be refunded if the customer texted a photo of the scooter being left a an appropriate place. I also imagined that there was some sort of GPS locator or something that would allow the vendor to identify where they were left. So a deposit could be refunded once GPS documented that it was left at an appropriate place. Where would these companies (already financially challenged) find the money to hire the staff that would be needed to review all these texted photos? Or the staff to monitor GPS locators? Plus collecting a deposit, and then refunding it a few hours later – both of those electronic transactions have finance charges – who pays them? Actually making this work has various complications. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/44 "2025-10-15T21:33:52Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > Where would these companies (already financially challenged) find the money to I have zero idea as to the economic soundness of these companies. But just because doing things responsibly costs money does not impress me as a sufficient excuse to impose a burden on the general public and non-customers. I’m generally not too sympathetic towards for-profit entities who create some externality but then claim it would not be economically feasible for them to avoid doing so. If you cannot afford to do things responsibly, then maybe you need to come back when your business model covers that. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/45 "2025-10-15T23:00:15Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I was told by my local Supervisor (city council member) to call 311 and report it, and it will be gone within 3 days. So I’m going to try that. I opened a case through our city’s 311 app yesterday about noon. Within an hour the case was closed, without explanation. The scooter is still there. According to the advice I got, they have another day and a half to get it gone. Someone picked it up overnight, I suspect it was the garbage collectors, and left it leaning against my property. I guess this could have gone in the thread about things that infuriate you beyond their actual importance. It’s not just that the scooter companies don’t have any way to deal with this situation on a routine basis, it’s the complete disregard from a neighbor who would park the thing in front of my property instead of their own. It’s just a crappy thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/46 "2025-10-15T23:48:26Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > Where would these companies (already financially challenged) find the money to hire the staff that would be needed to review all these texted photos? Or the staff to monitor GPS locators? Plus collecting a deposit, and then refunding it a few hours later – both of those electronic transactions have finance charges – who pays them? > Actually making this work has various complications. To quote what I said earlier: > [@Joey\_P](#): > > If the companies that own them can’t afford the manpower to pick them up to redistribute them, they really shouldn’t be operating a business like this By that I meant, if your business inconveniences the general public, especially if it does so because you can’t afford to make sure it doesn’t, you shouldn’t be in business. People shouldn’t be tripping over scooters or finding them on their property because the scooter company can’t afford to pick them up. It’s like a tire store that dumps used tires in alleys so they don’t have to pay to have them hauled away. If you can’t afford to have them hauled away, that really shouldn’t be anyone else’s problem. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > Having your only assets taken away will rapidly accelerate a business’ decline so it’ll be in their best interest to keep the city (government and public) happy. And to clarify this, I didn’t intend to be quite so mean spirited about driving someone out of business, I meant that this would provide an incentive to deal with the problem. Or what Dinsdale said. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/47 "2025-10-16T13:22:08Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > Where would these companies (already financially challenged) find the money to hire the staff that would be needed to review all these texted photos? Or the staff to monitor GPS locators? AI would handle this; no people necessary > [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > Plus collecting a deposit, and then refunding it a few hours later – both of those electronic transactions have finance charges – who pays them? This is probably already handled in their business model. Just like the gas station doesn’t know your final bill when you pull up to the pump & tap/insert your card, they don’t know your exact charge when you rent/check one out as (at least some of them charge per time unit - first ½ hour is $5 & then $1 for every additional ½ hour). They may determine that their average rental time is 33 mins; therefore they default their CC authorization to $6 but may only charge you $5 if you rent it for 15 mins but charge me $7 because I have it for 64 mins. They could include a deposit up front so they authorization is for $36 but rescind the vast majority of them when they post the actual charge. \* all numbers are made up examples; I have no idea what they actually cost as they don’t have them near me & I’ve therefore, never used one. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/48 "2025-10-16T16:19:28Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > (the bar is on a street called Howell Ave, hence “Thirst On Howell III”) Ha, I never heard that one! When I was an Eastsider, Humboldt and Holton were our H streets and Wolski’s the landmark bar\* but I’m jealous of your local puns. And the sign is primo, the old timey bubbler in silhouette _swoon_ i can practically taste the rusty brass plumbing fixtures! Indulging in some college reminiscing, of course everyone has to go to Wolski’s for a sticker shortly after they get to town and I wasn’t hanging in bars much at the time but wasn’t a fan anyway. But we DID go to \*Landmark Lanes a lot on Sundays for a neat neighborhood third place for socializing. It isn’t a bar but they have a bar. And Thai Joe’s. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/49 "2025-10-16T17:51:08Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Ha, I never heard that one! When I was an Eastsider, Humboldt and Holton were our H streets and Wolski’s the landmark bar\* but I’m jealous of your local puns. And the sign is primo, the old timey bubbler in silhouette _swoon_ i can practically taste the rusty brass plumbing fixtures! The current owner(s) of Wolski’s are friends but, oddly enough, I’ve only drank there a handful of times over the years. The Bubbler, if you didn’t figure it out is in Bay View on Howell, near Oklahoma. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/50 "2025-10-16T17:53:32Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I discovered today that the company, named Spin, may be in financial difficulties and circling the drain. That’s probably because half their inventory is scattered hither and yon. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/51 "2025-10-16T17:55:47Z")
They work great in societies like Japan where the people are disciplined and responsible. This is America. ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/52 "2025-10-16T18:23:25Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I dislike when people leave trash in front of my house, so I assume I would be even more displeased if it was an e-scooter. If it happened more than once, I imagine I might drag the device to the nearest public property - likely the school down the street - and leave it there. Admittedly not a great solution. A challenge to drag. They are surprising heavy and the wheels lock up when not in use. Recently, when I attempted to move one in front of my store, an extremely loud alarm sounded startling the crap out of me. (That had never happened before when I have moved them). ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2025, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/53 "2025-10-17T11:53:56Z")
A few weeks ago, I watched a woman spend a good 5 minutes trying to drag one across a busy street, only to leave it on the opposite corner (my property) when she realized she couldn’t use it due to a geofence issue. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/54 "2025-10-17T17:56:37Z")
> [@2\_More\_Bits](#): > > A challenge to drag. They are surprising heavy and **the wheels lock up when not in use.** Recently, when I attempted to move one in front of my store, an extremely loud alarm sounded startling the crap out of me. (That had never happened before when I have moved them). Is that inherent in the technology? Or possibly an anti-theft measure? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/55 "2025-10-17T20:02:51Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > Is that inherent in the technology? Or possibly an anti-theft measure? Batteries and motors are heavy, but the wheel being locked up is on purpose. Otherwise they’d have no way of preventing people from using them like non-electric scooters for free. It probably also helps keep them from moving around if they’re not parked on a totally flat surface. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/56 "2025-10-23T20:14:07Z")
not to hijack thread, but in my town there’s issues with widespread use of golf carts similar to those with escooters ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/57 "2025-10-23T20:45:37Z")
Just to follow up, I finally found a telephone number for Spin scooters, I called them on Monday morning, they said they would report it and it should be taken care of within 48 hours. Surprise – any one surprised? – it still has not been picked up, so I just now called again. Encouragingly, they had a record of my previous call because they knew right away my address from seeing my phone number on their screen. So they are reporting it again. I’m not exactly holding my breath, but anything can happen. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/58 "2025-10-23T22:47:58Z")
I see these left lying on the sidewalk in my residential neighborhood sometimes, but not enough to care much. The thing I don’t understand is that in order to unlock the scooter, you have to use the app, which starts the figurative meter running. Then, in order to stop the meter, you need to send them a photo of the scooter having been placed in an appropriate location. So people really shouldn’t be able to get away with just abandoning them. Not sure where this system breaks down, but it clearly does. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2025, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/59 "2025-10-24T01:02:26Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > Then, in order to stop the meter, you need to send them a photo of the scooter having been placed in an appropriate location. Then someone else walks by and knocks it over. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2025, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970/60 "2025-10-24T01:50:11Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > in order to stop the meter, you need to send them a photo of the scooter having been placed in an appropriate location. I have been wondering about this, so I took a minute to see what Spin themselves say about where you can leave the scooters. Here is their little video (goes to YouTube): [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/bg1VP2qiebg/maxresdefault.jpg "Spin Safe: Ending Your Trip") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg1VP2qiebg) And now I’ve figured out why my place looks good to them: in our tiny front yard space, there is a tree, and we put a faux cast-iron fence around the tree to keep dogs out. So at the right angle, it looks like a railing, which probably goes down okay with the company. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-scooters-the-scourge-of-residential-neighborhoods/1023970.md?page=4)