So I just started a new job, and my current commute involves a mile to the train downtown (there is a bus, but it’s erratic enough that I usually walk), about 25 minutes on the train, and then 3/4 of a mile on foot downtown. (Again, there is a bus, but it’s so slow at rush hour that it’s probably faster to walk, especially given that I have to walk a couple of blocks to get to the bus.) Total time door to door is a bit over an hour, depending on connections, and close to 2/3 of that is usually on foot.
I have a bike share membership, but availability near my new office is erratic, and it’s hard to bike in a skirt. I am wondering if it might make sense to acquire a folding electric scooter that I could take on the train. (I have a gimpy ankle, so I don’t walk so fast, plus the cumulative amount gets to me sometimes in terms of pain level.) I have tried bringing my own bike for the initial mile to the train, but find it difficult to carry it down 2 stories’ worth of stairs to the bike lockup because my ankle doesn’t bend, so I have balance issues with a handrail in one hand and the bike in the other. I thought a scooter might have similar weight, but be less awkward to balance, plus then I could also use it on the other end.
Does anyone here have a scooter that they commute with? Any tips on what features to look for? What do you wish you had known when you bought yours? Am I crazy even to think of it? What will I do in the winter when it’s icy? What am I not thinking to ask about?