Every individual wishes to ride the things that they already rode when they were kids. Referring back to the old quote: there is a child inside all of us. The popularity of E-scooters can be figured out among adults.
The structural design of E-scooters brings back the nostalgic feeling among all the adults who drove scooters when they were kids.
E-scooters are the perfect push to all the cessations and interestingly boosting a life where travelling for work also appears fun.
Weaving through the cars in a traffic jam or criss crossing pedestrians is quite appealing which ultimately promotes rental services for E-scooters.
Many questions remain unanswered about the E-scooters. Here I will try my level best to answer all the questions which might arise in the minds of the users as well as business owners if making a move in this industry.
Do cities actually need E-scooters?
All the major cities of the world are facing issues related to bottleneck, tangled and impassable situations which can not be solved within a few minutes; it might even take hours to clear the roads and passage to move.
The most feasible solution to all the outbreaks of traffic jams is the use of E-scooters. Some cars are used by the owners to travel a few miles which creates congestion.
The frequent use of cars to cover short distances can be put to an end with the help of E-scooters.
Is It Safe to Ride?
Emergency rooms are flooded with people who just caught injury from E-scooters. But the injuries were only caused because the rider was on the phone while riding or the rider had one more person along with him on the same scooter.
The negligence while riding can cause serious troubles to riders as well as to the pedestrians as they might accidentally bump into them.
To tackle all such issues the company has created several videos and tutorials to ride an E-scooter with precaution. The rate of accidents from these scooters will come to an end as the rider gets habitual of it
Are theft and vandalism a problem?
Vandalism and theft are the major issues whenever we talk about anything. However, E-scooter companies are watching a downfall in theft and vandalism as they have designed the scooter with a highly equipped locking and unlocking system to use the scooter.
The smart locks in the scooters itself can further degrade the problems.
Can E-scooter companies be profitable?
The subject to profit is something which particularly revolves in the hands of the company. As the business is seasonal.
It’s too early to predict anything pertaining to the rewards.
Bird was the first company to launch its E-scooters back in the year 2018. Since then a lot of start-ups have expanded the scooter industry to provide different options to the users.
As many companies are expanding their roots over this sector it becomes easy to understand whether this business is profitable or not.
Why don’t UBER and LYFT join the Industry?
Extension of Uber and Lyft into micro-mobility services is the new talk of the town. As Uber introduced Jump bikes and even invested in LIME and scuttlebutt to be acquiring E-scooters from Bird.
While Citi bike was launched by LYFT and is successfully operating among the provinces of the United States. Whether the companies want to work in E-scooters or not. The companies like bird, razor and all the start-ups of E-scooters are likely to bloom in the near future.
So even the start-ups will give cut-throat competition to Uber and Lyft.
Payment Methods: Are they Secured?
The new challenge in the micro-mobility sector is to conclave the needs of the users by extending new ways of payments and food delivery.
The firms like Grin and Yellow are providing digital wallets to the users by facilitating them to get a ride on credit and then further use those credits to avail benefits while shopping, paying bills and furthermore while transferring money to family and friends.
Even the Fintech companies can collaborate with start-ups by taking it as an opportunity to enlarge their financial business on top by starting a joint venture.
Ecological Impacts of E-scooters
Steve Jobs in a statement said that E-scooter will have a massive impact on the community further stating it to be larger than the impact of personal computers among the lives of the people and cities will be restructured making a way for E-scooters. It is worthy of calling him a visionary leader.
“One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out” – Jeff Bezos made this statement and accordingly proved it true to everyone by investing and lending a helping hand to scooter manufacturing company SEGWAY.
If we want to envisage the ecological impacts of electric scooters. The most important phases which should be taken into considerations are the production phase, the user phase and the recycling phase.
In the first phase of production, we must scrutinize all the energy engrossed to uproot Raw materials, transform them and finally assemble them into a finished product.
This phase is cardinal for all the electronic gadgets as it is the stage where batteries are taken into the examination.
Concerning the phase of generating energy, Electric scooters and cars both face collateral problems.
If the method of producing electricity is ecological if it is renewable and decarbonated then the ecological impact of this period will be pretty low.
On the other hand, If fossil fuels were used to produce energy the number of greenhouse gases released will be increased.
The next phase of using the vehicles is pivotal for all-electric vehicles whether it’s a bike or car, they have a real prevalence as they do not pollute the environment. One should also consider how the batteries of such vehicles are recharged.
E-scooters, when discharged, are taken back to the charging stations usually by trucks which devastates the whole reason behind using E-scooters.
Finally, recycling of such scooters must not be avoided as these are made of scarce and unlikely materials which are polluting.
It is therefore important to take extensive care of their batteries and the vehicle which makes the user as well as the rental service provider accountable and responsible towards the wide segment of inhabitants.
If the battery recycling gets developed then there will not be any burden on service providers or the end-users.
Lastly despite what superficial discussion of E-scooter and micro-mobility you decide. The society in this pandemic era is searching for solutions to curb problems related to traffic as well the sustainable approach towards an environment where individuals’ needs are satisfied by not disturbing or least contributing in the vicinity of polluting the environment. Time will decide who wins the race of last-mile alternative among all the transportation mediums.
