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Electric Scooter Charger Culture Is Out of Control (archive)
Bird is a scooter-sharing company that launched in 2017 and has been dubbed the "Uber of scooters." Its goal is to alleviate congestion and allow people an easy way to travel quickly for short distances of just a few miles. Riders can locate and unlock scooters using the company's smartphone app, and after paying the $1 unlocking fee are charged 15 cents per minute during use.
Birds are available in a growing number of American cities including Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Scottsdale, Arizona; Washington D.C.; and Atlanta. The scooters are all battery-powered and dockless, so they can be picked up or dropped off anywhere. But when night falls, what most riders don't realize is that the scooters themselves are charged by a contract workforce. These people are known as "Bird hunters" or "chargers," and they're growing exponentially in number.
[...] Hoarding in particular has become a problem in these crowded markets. Bird and other companies will pay a $20 reward for missing scooters, so some chargers simply keep the scooters in their garage until they're reported missing by riders or the bounty goes up to $20, then claim the finder's fees. Bird theoretically polices this behavior, and Brandon says he's gotten a warning call from the company for hoarding, but the bad behavior has become commonplace and punishment is unevenly enforced.
Each scooter can also only be captured by one charger. In saturated markets, the race to quickly grab as many scooters as possible is fierce. "One time I pulled up to pick up a scooter, I got there maybe 10 seconds before the other guy did," said one charger in San Diego. "He started yelling at me. He picked up a Bird scooter and started beating my car. I got the hell out of there."
[...] As the charging community grows, some Bird hunters have sought to reduce their competition in nefarious ways. Several Facebook groups for chargers in different cities have cropped up. For one of them, in order to join, you're asked to share a screenshot of your settings screen containing your login name, telephone number, and email. Rogue Bird hunters attempt to use this information to shut down your account or charge under your name with updated billing information.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday May 23 2018, @04:07PM (7 children)
The bikes aren't available to the homeless because one requires a payment card to rent them.
After payment the bikes are wirelessly unlocked. You can use the bike for as long as you wish then return it to any of dozens of wireless locking racks scattered all over Creation.
The gadgetry alone must have set back the City Of Portland some millions of Samoleons.
This while the San Luis Obispo Sheriff has I Shit You Not THOUSANDS of unclaimed bikes in its stolen bike impound.
Quite likely one of those SLO bikes is rightfully mine!
So here's what you do:
Pay a long-haul trucker to tote a few hundred of those bikes to Stumptown.
Paint them all yellow, just like Amsterdam's yellow bikes.
Install high-capacity bike racks all over Creation.
Install all the yellow bikes in said bike racks.
Do not lock them.
Do permit the homeless to ride them.
Do not charge money to use them.
????
PROFIT!
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 23 2018, @04:38PM (6 children)
This is a very economically beneficial approach, but it usually falls afoul of some "anti-freeloader" sentiment among the voters.
Taking the bikes from the SLO impound is, perhaps, more politically appealing than just buying a container of new bikes from China, but the container from China also works from an economic perspective. WalMart can sell decent bicycles for $50 each at retail, a bulk container purchase by a city should get them for even less. A free bicycle on downtown streets will reduce traffic and infrastructure costs by more than it costs to provide. Of course, people will always find ways to take advantage, but at some point that's just down in the noise, like people stealing highway railings and selling them for scrap metal - sure: it happens, but not enough to stop using metal highway railings.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Troll) by Oakenshield on Wednesday May 23 2018, @07:25PM (2 children)
You're not going to get a $50 bike from Walmart for an adult. You can still get a 20 inch kid's bike for about that, but adult bikes are rarely under $100 even at Walmart these days. Their cheapest men's bike is $89 online. Target's website had exactly one 26 inch men's mountain bike for $75 and everything else started at $150.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 23 2018, @07:57PM (1 child)
I guess they've moved up-market from when we bought my wife's aluminum frame full suspension bike from WalMart for $89 - at that time there were cheaper bikes with less features.
https://www.target.com/p/kent-terra-2-6-26-men-s-mountain-bike-21-speed-blue/-/A-49164631 [target.com]
About this item: $75 - 21 speed with Front Suspension: unnecessary complication and expense, you might argue that 7 speed is worth it, I'd go with a 3 speed hub cassette or fixed gear for an inner city beater bike. Suspension is probably a joke on this bike anyway, but fixed forks cheaper to build and maintain.
If you're buying a container full of bikes from China, you can spec them down from WalMart/Target levels of luxury. Just like Mercedes only imports top-end products to the US, I suppose that WalMart, Target, et.al. have decided that nobody in the US should be allowed to buy a simple, cheap bike anymore.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 24 2018, @02:19AM
If I had to guess I'd say that cheap bikes weren't selling well anymore so the department stores stopped importing them. I dropped nearly $400 at a bike store on my son for a decent bike. I got tired of replacing $100 bikes every season when they fell apart. This one has held up well so far.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Wednesday May 23 2018, @08:06PM (2 children)
The paid bikes in San Diego are causing perceived problems by cluttering up the sidewalks. Because people can leave them anywhere, they do. Other people (mostly pedestrians) sometimes find that location inconvenient.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Wednesday May 23 2018, @08:26PM
That's not a universal truth, but an unfortunate truth about the people and culture of San Diego. Quite a few populations would have no issue with the common courtesy of properly stowing the bike. Other peoples and cultures will steal everything not nailed down and murder families with a hatchet.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 23 2018, @08:32PM
Beatings. Regular beatings on sight. Clean that place right up, like Singapore.
🌻🌻 [google.com]