Why Walk When You Can Scoot?
Posted by terrepruitt on August 22, 2018
I was getting gas last week and I noticed a line of scooters parked on the sidewalk across the street. I had to go investigate. Well, there wasn’t much to investigate so I took a few pictures. In downtown Willow Glen, which is an area of San Jose, they have little scooters you can rent. The scooters are Lime-S.
They are electric scooters. It cost a dollar to unlock it then 15 cents per minute to ride it. And it looks as if you have to have an app on your phone to do it. There is very little written information on the site most of the information is disseminated via video . . . I am a reader when it comes to getting information so I didn’t watch. If I were to rent one then I would take the time to watch the video, but I am just here sharing the fact that there are electric scooters to rent in downtown Willow Glen. Which is kind of funny because that is ALL downtown Willow Glen needs are electric scooters buzzing around. (If you know Willow Glen, you know I am being sarcastic.)
But I guess if walking is not your thing you could opt to scoot down the main avenue on a scooter. It probably wouldn’t cost you much more than $5.00! Depends on the traffic both vehicular and pedestrian. It would definitely be a lot faster than trying to drive down the main avenue, especially since they reduced each direction to one lane.
Anyway, the addition information I was able to glean off the Lime-S site is that the range on the scooter is 20 miles with a max speed of 14.8 mph. The application you download onto your phone has battery monitoring.
You need to:
-be at least 18 years old to ride
-have a driver’s license
-wear a helmet
-curb the scooter when parking
-follow all traffic and safety laws
-use brake to stop
The site says no stunt riding or blocking walkways and advised you avoid road obstructions such as potholes and rocks.
It looks like the Lime-S group might rent out electric bikes, too.
When I was in Santa Cruz recently they had bikes for rent, but they were red and I don’t think they were electric so they were not the same company. But it seems like these types of things, as in scooters and bikes that you can just rent for a quick jaunt, are popping up all over. The websites shows this company all across the country, but it is funny, in the cities listed under California, it doesn’t say San Jose. I wonder if it is fairly new? Or perhaps they have removed them since I saw them?
Well you might be able to rent one in your city. Are you up for a scoot?
Terre Pruitt's Blog 
John Pruitt said
Lime has a crap load of bikes by me on Shoreline. Personally I find the bikes to be an eyesore and completely unnecessary for the area. Also the places people abandon these things creates additional hazards that the company appears unwilling to address. I rarely share strong feelings against most startups but I hope they burn in hell. But in a nice way.
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terrepruitt said
Really, they have bikes by you? I would think there was enough Google bikes that “other” people would not need to rent a bike. Around the place you work, from what I see, it is not really a bike-friendly area . . . too much vehicle traffic. People just abandon them? I would have thought the renter’s account would be charged for the price of the bike (or scooter) if the bike/scooter was not returned to the proper place. They just allow them to be left all over willy-nilly? I think if they just let there inventory (bikes/scooters) just be left all over they might end up crashing and burning. And if people just leave them all over how are they assessed for safety? I would think that they need to be returned to a central area so that the company can make sure that each device is safe to ride. I would think they have to do regular inspections. Hmmm. Doesn’t sound like these things are very safe and/or reliable.
The side didn’t really have much information that I saw – besides what I wrote about. At least that I could read. Perhaps their videos explain about abandoning bikes and the reliability and safety of the bikes/scooters.
Oh, and thank you for telling us how you feel. 🙂
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Sonja Troncoso said
On my way out of town, i saw scooters in alum rock village.
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terrepruitt said
🙂 I think bikes and scooters are popping up all over the place!
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