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Electric scooter company Bird files for bankruptcy
(techcrunch.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
These scooters were not a low-pollution way to move around, at least not in France. In Paris, they were so abused and treated like disposable stuff that they had a very short life. All in all, they emitted as much co2 per km per persone as a commercial airplane.
Other towns had better luck with cheap long-term rentals including repairs and battery replacement when necessary, this made people behave more responsibly.
I still don't see how this budget model is suppose to work. Hoe do you keep upkeep in check with a reasonable cost per ride?
How many kilometers does someone need to ride on those, before the scooter is paid off?
How often do these get vandalized or thrown in a river?
So a good idea in theory, but ruined by people being dicks? I wonder why some of the scooters were treated better than others.