Old 01-29-19, 10:04 AM
  #35  
Happy Feet
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Originally Posted by tandempower
This is so similar to the article I read about why Apple can't make products outside of China. The article described a single person making tiny specialized screws because the cost of the screws didn't warrant multiple workers in Texas, whereas in China there would be a whole team of people working on the screws. Basically that means that Apple has to make products in China and ship them across the ocean, i.e. because local people aren't willing to do the kind of work needed at the cost/wages that workers in China will. Maybe because they don't LCF and so they have to pay for cars and driving.

What seems to be clear is that ubiquitous driving generates a certain level of GDP that requires everyone to drive. So unless a class of LCF people can emerge that are willing to work for less, things like dockless share scooters/bikes are going to be too expensive to be a viable business model.

The other option is for people to pay enough for the dockless share scooters/bikes to generate a lucrative business at automotive-economy levels, but then of course people are going to be under pressure to do as much business as in a full-blown automotive economy, which will probably mean they have to travel as much and as far as those who drive do.

Then, if the dockless share companies fail, it's just proof that the overall automotive economy has become a barrier to affordable transportation choice, which we've sort of known all along anyway, except those of us who are living in the dream reality that it's just as easy to LCF as it is to get around by driving.
Perhaps you should rethink your PR if you imagine yourself an advocate for LCF because suggesting people need to begin accepting dystopian wage and working conditions in communist China as prerequisite is going to be a hard sell (and completely untrue). Sounds more like an anti - advocate message.

And since when are unregulated dockless scooters a needed component in LCF? To me they seem to be high tech toys for people to play around on for whimsy. The current business model actually caters to that in the sense of use and lose, no responsibility access by both the company and users (user for disposable scooter, company by creating no real infrastructure). Responsibly, companies could identify corridors where such devices would be useful, create a series of maintained docks, and encourage responsible use therein. If they (the scooters) are truly beneficial that would be a long term viable business model.

I lived car free until I was 30 in 4 different cities. The basics are still the same: density, good mass transport infrastructure, bicycle friendly corridors/roads, security and a decent bike. If you have those it's pretty easy to be at least, car lite.
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