I rode a Bird scooter to go get my car from the shop (my first time on a scooter). It was fine except for going uphill – it slowed down to almost a crawl (walking speed – so slow it takes work to keep the scooter stable). Also, I didn’t feel comfortable when I got to a busy street, so I walked the rest of the way.
The busy street stuff is expected, but I wasn’t expecting it to be such a struggle going uphill. Did I get a bad scooter, or is there a way to make it go faster, or what? What are your experiences with the rental scooters out there?
All I know is I trip over them all the fucking time. The ones that have docks? No one ever puts them back correctly. The ones you leave anywhere? They literally get left anywhere. I hate those goddamn things.
I don’t think that’s what you were looking for, but that’s my honest experience with those things.
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My wife rode one once while there were on the streets hear near Boston. Soon after that they were removed by Bird because of disagreements with the city. She loved it, and is keen to try them again as they are reintroduced. She had no problem with power/speed for a fairly short 15 minute ride.
I liked them so much that I bought my own. It’s a bit sturdier and faster than the rental models, and it means that I have to lock it up or stash it somewhere when I get to my destination. But, I’ve put 3000 miles on that thing in the past two years (and been hit by two cars).
We have several different providers servicing our city including Bird. I’ve never used one myself but they are incredibly popular. Our home is located within 1 mile of our downtown so I see them every day. In fact our home is on a busy intersection in our neighborhood and every morning a person drops off several right on the corner of our sidewalk. All of them get used every day, they’re never there later that evening/night when they would normally pick-up scooters to re-charge and maintenance them.
I do though agree with many of the complaints about them; people riding them on sidewalks, tripping hazards, blocking wheelchair ramps on sidewalks, etc. I don’t know the current status in our city on legislation regarding the scooters but I seem to recall there was some discussion.
I got the EcoReco model R. I had put in for a crowdsourced model that was going to be much lighter, but they didn’t deliver and gave us these instead. They don’t go the promised 25 MPH (more like 20 or 21) and I’m not a huge guy. Doesn’t feel like much, but when I’m in the suburbs on a flat straight flat empty road, I would like that extra few MPH. In San Francisco, where I’ve been hit twice, I rarely get up to full speed.
Biggest issue is that it’s about 10 pounds heavier than the one promised, so it’s kind of a beast. I’m not a 90 pound weakling and at 35 pounds and somewhat unwieldy, this thing can be tough to lug up and down stairs. But, all in all, it helps me out a lot.
I’ve never ridden one, but coincidentally I just read this article on Jalopnik yesterday in which the author reviews all the different rental scooters. One thing I learned is that they actually limit their speed in certain areas based on the where the GPS thinks you are. The Lime scooter the author tested slowed to 3 mph (walking speed) on a bike path, because the company purposely decided to limit it to that speed in that location. That’s probably not what happened to you since you encountered it going uphill, but interesting that they do that.