Here is the News.

Is that true?

Would certainly count as a solid medium for me.

Every single scooter trip I have taken has replaced a walk, not a drive. Florist, on the other hand, appears to be using one to replace a drive. I would wager you don’t have a clue what proportion of scooter journeys replace car journeys as oppose to PT and other active transport.

Most of the people I see riding them around Melbourne are young, and usage is in the city and inner suburbs.. so very much tilted towards a population that does not own/drive cars very much. Based on observation (which is not data, of course) I suspect that Florist is an admirable outlier and that scooters around here are mainly used to replace tram and walking trips, and because they are quite fun. If that is the case, the public benefit conversation is very different.

Most of the time I’ve used a scooter has been to go to the football when it’s been hot enough that I didn’t fancy the walk. Never once has there been a scooter available for the return trip. If I had a commute that could be a Car vs Scooter choice I would probably get my own scooter. Or a bike (which is an objectively better choice for those able). I’m not sure I’d be willing to rely on a shared scheme.

A thousand commuters using scooters sounds great, but that’s a thousand scooters all being used at the same time. But then what happens to all those scooters parked outside offices at 9am? Unless there is a good amount of people grabbing them to do something else, and leaving them around and about the office areas by 5pm, it’s not going to work out and if you actually want to subsidies things to get that benefit of reduced car journeys you’d be much better off subsidising private purchases of scooters than a shared scheme that doesn’t deliver what you want.

Which is all back to my original point.. we just don’t have the data to be making these decisions yet. Let the private sector work it out, accept that some things will fail, and spend public money on stuff that we know works.

Yes. But irrelevant as I was (clearly) specifically responding to the suggestion that scooters will meaningfully reduce car usage. Reducing car usage would be a clear public benefit, me being a bit less sweaty when I arrive at the football would not.

So letting cars proliferate without understanding what would happen was bad, but letting scooters proliferate without understanding what might happen is good. Is this why you didn’t go back to your jibe at the government for being slow to legalise private use once several people pointed out why that might actually be sensible? You’re just going to damn whatever decision is made. What would this whole discussion be like if instead of Nottingham’s scooter co going bust, the government had jumped in with a subsidy scheme to bail them out and keep them going?

Money is being thrown at the relevant other possible solution. This is a discussion about who’s money that should be.

Agreed. Again, I was responding to your 1000 commuter car journeys.

Great idea and if none of the scooter schemes currently being run have a) encountered this issue and b) tried that solution, that is disappointing, and surprising. Of course, discounts for non-peak use (and penalties for failure to return to the agreed zone?) would probably go down very badly much like ‘surge pricing’ for Uber has a bad rep. Price discrimination, even where it is fair and rational, is unpopular.

Again, the alternative we are discussing is being tried in lots of places. This is a discussion about who pays for it.

Yes. ‘For those able’ should be interpreted widely.

edit: delete, didn't read the other post fully.

Does look rather high now near the WFCG

x.com/rsevern7/status/1742943685371744616?s=46

Our power has been out since about half four.

Back!

Although just had a call from the national grid asking us not to use kettle/ oven/ tumble drier.

That's one heck of a machine.

1.21 gigawatts!

I asked tricky for a recommendation.

I wish I'd been on that call. "Hey Simon, do you mind taking it easy on the Trickytron 3000 for a bit mate? You've just taken down half of Oxfordshire, including a hospital, four old folks' homes, and most of the education system. We were starting to wonder if you were planning on running as a Tory councilor."

Is there any sort of e-scooter restriction in place?

Asking for a Shady.