With all the great projects happening or planned for Downtown Jacksonville, are we ready for the app-driven, GPS enabled, rentable electric scooters to make an appearance?
The basic idea is that: GPS enabled, electric scooters are made available, basically everywhere in metro areas. They get unlocked / rented, for ‘as little as $1,’ used and dropped off where-ever the renter is done. No need to pick-up and return at a certain location; just pick up and drop off at your convenience!
There are two main competitors in this fledgling industry: Lime and Bird. They both have MANY more locations than I realized:
Pretty remarkable, seeing as how both companies were founded in 2017. Bird is valued north of $2B in its latest round of funding.
Of course, it’s not all rosy everywhere. The Verge has a piece about some of the downsides of the business model; faster than expected depreciation, vandalism, repair costs, and overall, higher than expected expenses.
And, also of course, personal injury attorneys will do their thing to keep us safe.
I say bring it; where do I sign up? It may not be sustainable, and it may have some downsides, but I for one would have gladly rented four scooters at the last Jags game. We parked about a mile and a half away, and a scooter ride would have made that trip a LOT more entertaining.
The Jacksonville Business Journal and FT have a (paywalled) article about it over here.
