Originally Posted by
Machka
I've been car free or car light most of my life and have never made use of scooters.
I've used public transportation, bicycles, and walking.
And I agree ... if you've got a good mass transport infrastructure, you've nailed the comfort and convenience aspect. It means that people can travel where they are going in reasonable comfort (out of the elements, for example), and reasonably conveniently (transportation comes by fairly frequently, and picks up and drops off in convenient locations).
That, to me, should be the main focus for living car free because the majority of people simply do not want to exert themselves in order to get around.
Then for those who do want to exert themselves, the bicycle is still the most or one of the most efficient means of human powered transportation. Or for shorter distances, walking can be pretty convenient.
Those are the three areas to focus on for LCF cities.
Have you happened to notice through the years that public transit and cycling don't quite satisfy enough people to continue growing in popularity to a level that would cure congestion and sprawl? And yes I know that you don't see a problem with sprawl, but hopefully you can see that it is a deterrent to biking or taking transit in many places.
What is the problem with appreciating (share) scooters as a transportation option? All they are is a small platform with handbars. The electric ones use a lot less battery-materials and other materials than electric cars, so it is more efficient to produce them in large numbers. They are smaller than bikes and thus easier to stack or otherwise store in large numbers. They have less components so they must be easier to manufacture. Can't you just acknowledge that there are reasons scooters provide an option that bikes can't on a number of levels?
I may not personally love them or want to ride one, but I can see their value as something different than bikes and cars/trucks. And I agree with you that public transit is important for many reasons, but I think share bikes/scooters could be a temporary solution for people who live far from transit stops to get to them so that increased ridership stimulates the route planners to add more routes closer to where they live.