WEBVTT - Electric Scooters 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:03.640 Welcome to Car Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio's How 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:11.680 Stuff Works. Hi, and Welcome to car Stuff. I'm your 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:14.640 host Scott Benjamin and I am Kurt Garren. And we're 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.160 missing Ben again. Yeah, well that's okay. He'll be back. 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.320 I promise, No, really, he will be back. He's he's around. 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:22.800 He's just doing other stuff. Probably. I bet we'll hear 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:25.120 all about incomes back. I hope so where he can 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:27.320 make something up. Anyway, it's a shame that he's not 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:29.840 here because he would love the topic we're going to 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:31.720 talk about today. You know, I feel like he would 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:34.839 because I've got to be honest with you, Kurt. You 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:37.120 said we were going to talk about bird scooters. Um, 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:39.800 which are you know? The electric scooters are a type 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:44.040 of scooter that has proliferated just about every major city, 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:47.320 at least the United States, all around the world, I know, 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:50.600 and in markets like Europe and um, North America, the 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:54.560 Middle in the Middle East, They're all over the place. Um, 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:58.440 you nor I have any real experience with you know, 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.320 these these electric scooters. I'm not going to ride one 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:05.280 of those silly things I have. I'll tell you I 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:07.320 have a lot of knowledge about them. But I've never 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:09.760 been on one, and maybe that's going to change soon. 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:11.600 I think I think I'm due for a ride here. 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:13.800 But I would bet if I had, if I was 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:16.440 a betting person, I would bet that Ben is somebody 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:18.720 that has used these. If not, you know, just once 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:20.920 or twice, probably a lot. I hope I'm not giving 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:22.679 anything away that he doesn't want it, but he's he 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:26.160 lives sort of nearby. He does drive a vehicle, so 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:28.440 he might be, you know, too far to use one 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:30.760 of these, but um, I would. I just have a 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.440 feeling that getting around town. He did live real close 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:35.479 and that was no secret. He he lived real close 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:37.680 to this building in an old Ford factory as a 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:39.560 matter of fact, which is kind of cool. Um he 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:42.440 wasn't homeless. I mean they made it into apartments, you know, 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:44.800 but but I know that, you know, he was real 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:46.920 close to here. And if you look outside of our 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:49.440 window right now from our office, we're on the fourth floor, 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:52.680 and if you look outside, I would bet anything that 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.280 we would be able to spot just on the curb side, 0:01:55.560 --> 0:02:00.600 probably a dozen electric electric scooters on the curb, you know, 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:03.280 just park waiting for people to use, and probably two 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:05.600 or three in motion. You know, people on them in 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:07.520 bike lanes, would you guess, yeah, I would guess so. 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.440 And even and when it's raining, you may even see 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:14.399 a few in the roadway that have been washed down. 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:17.320 Have seen that before too from our window out here? 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:20.160 Have you really washed downstream? Huh? Yeah, well we get 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.480 some torrential drain rain down here, and then you know, 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:24.760 with all the hills and everything, it ends up being 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:27.360 like you know, small rivers running through downtown. If it rains, 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:29.680 it's a it's a disaster practically if it rains more 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:32.079 than about an inch, and that's you know, part of 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:35.200 the problem with the scooters is exactly that, the fact 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:40.000 that they are relatively lightweight and just can be scattered 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:42.520 about willy nilly. Oh yeah, you know. I know we're 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:44.440 gonna talk about that because parking is an issue with 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.160 these as well. But um, just for for those that 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:49.720 don't know what we're talking about. And I didn't think 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:51.160 that this is really going to be an issue until 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:53.919 yesterday when we were talking off air about this, uh, 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:56.720 this program in particular, and I said, well, every we 0:02:56.760 --> 0:02:58.800 don't really need to describe them because everybody knows what 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:01.880 these are, right, And you said, probably not. Yeah, most definitely. 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:04.320 I mean they're in a lot of larger cities in 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:07.360 the United States and around the world, but there are 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:10.240 plenty of places that do not have these scooters at 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:14.320 least owned by these companies, some kind of dispersed everywhere 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.480 as a motor transportation. Yeah. Sure. See you're in a 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.240 city like Atlanta where there's close I mean we're bordering 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.160 on seven million people. Now it's above six million, I believe. 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:25.560 And uh, and you're gonna find a lot of something 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:27.320 like this. You go to you know, Dallas, you go 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:30.160 to where was it you were recently, San Antono, San Antonio, 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:33.000 San Antonio there there, you go to Miami, you go 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:36.120 to you know, Los Angeles, San Francisco. They're all over 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:38.320 the place and some of the bigger cities. Um. In fact, 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:41.240 I've think I've seen just even this one brand, Bird, 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:43.800 and we'll talk about many different brands, but Bird in particular, 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:45.440 I think they're in something like a hundred and twenty 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:48.480 different markets. So and it means I guess cities they 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.160 call them markets. But um, what we're talking about in 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:54.080 particular here, if you're not familiar, is a kick scooter, 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:55.720 you know, kind of scooter that you stand up on. 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.200 It's got a little deck and two small wheels um 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:00.800 handlebar that is coming up off of a stem, you know, 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:03.160 straight stem in front of you. Normally you would put 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:04.880 one foot on the deck and then kick like he 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:06.920 would on a skateboard to get moving, and then put 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:09.360 your second foot up and coast on it. Right. These 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:12.000 have a wheel or a wheel motor, a motor in 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.920 the wheel that's an electric and drives these things, and 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:17.200 it actually is pretty efficient. It moves them along pretty good. 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:19.040 You would think that I would have a lot of 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:21.120 difficulty here in Atlanta because of the terrain that I 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:23.760 just mentioned. You know, it's very hilly here, even in downtown. 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:26.760 But these really move people along pretty good. I mean 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:28.800 you get up to speed pretty quick. And I don't 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:30.320 know what that speed is. I want to say it's 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:32.760 it's above ten miles per hour. It's probably closer to 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:37.160 twelve or even maybe I would say between ten and 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:41.120 fifty somewhere on their speed. Yeah. Again, no personal experience 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:43.040 on it yet, but I'm gonna get there, and so 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:45.000 I don't have personal experience on the scooter either, but 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.920 I do have experience being around them being a cyclist 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:51.800 I don't ride on the belt line often, but it 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.320 is a nice little connector to get from one road 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:56.479 to another, so I'll hit it every now and then. 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:00.960 And the scooters are outrage Now the belt line is 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:03.960 as a walking path, that is, it's like it wasn't 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:06.880 an old railroad line. Yeah, And they do this with 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:10.680 many old railroad lines across the country. They turned them 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:14.479 into bike pass walking past recreational paths, tear the tracks off, 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:16.480 smooth it out, put some pavement down, and they've got 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:19.240 some trees nearby. A lot of businesses back up to 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:21.560 the properties. You can walk, you know, to and from 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:24.440 businesses that way. Um. I don't know how many miles 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:26.560 this thing goes, but it's big. It's a long. It's 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:29.520 a long, uh you know, walking path that is accessible 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.440 to just about everybody downtown really and they're always lengthening 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.239 it on either side. Now they this one here isn't 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:39.320 it's not continuously very long. It's like maybe two miles 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:41.440 this section. But they have a bunch of different sections 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:43.560 throughout the city that they that you can link up 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:47.279 with bike paths and sidewalks. And there is one that 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:50.720 is in Smyrna Georgia that goes all the way into Alabama. 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:54.320 It's called the Silver Comet, and then in Alabama it's 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:58.599 name changes, but it does keep going for a few 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:01.760 more miles in Alabama, I think Anniston. Maybe that's just 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.680 actually good ways and yeah, so that's a example of 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.560 one of these trails. It's very long, the Silver Common Trail, Okay, 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:09.240 so we have to check into that, all right. Well, 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:10.800 so I think a lot of people are familiar with 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:13.640 that type of environment in a city. A lot of 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:15.880 you know, they've repurposed some of these these old train 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.919 tracks or railroad pathways that they left behind once the 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:22.000 railway has gone or in no longer in use. But yeah, 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:23.719 we feel we find a lot of traffic on that 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:26.720 area or in that that walking path there formerly walking path. 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:29.520 Now it's scooters and bikes and all kinds of things. 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:31.600 Early on, you know, you'd find these things on sidewalks 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:33.200 as well, and it was a little bit dangerous little 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:35.159 if he you know, when you walk out of a 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.880 business and you know, a scooter that's running silently just 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:41.320 zips past you, going, you know, twelve fifteen miles an hour. 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:43.920 It's a little bit frightening because it happened. It happened often. 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:48.400 There were a lot of pedestrian scooter collisions, and unfortunately, 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:50.560 there have been a lot of you know, scooter car 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:52.800 collisions that have happened as well. And and well, not 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:54.360 to let the cat of the bag or anything, but 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:57.080 I mean there have been several deaths here in Atlanta 0:06:57.160 --> 0:07:00.800 alone that have led to some some abums with with 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:03.240 the city, between the city and the scooter companies. So 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:05.240 there's a lot to really talk about here there there. 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:08.040 It's actually it's not a bad solution for what they 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:11.000 intended it for. For the micro mobility, I think is 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.600 what they call it, right. Um, it's like the last 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:16.920 mile transportation is what they often refer to it as. 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:21.240 I'm not sure that the scooters are being used in 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:24.560 that way. I feel like the e bikes have gotten 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:26.920 more of a grip on that type of situation. They 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:29.640 they're definitely way more organized, like they have the stations 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.080 where you put the bikes to charge and whatnot. There's 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:35.560 more of an infrastructure there, whereas the scooters are just uh, 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.000 kind of littered about. So you're talking about the same thing. 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:41.800 Only bike form that is electric that you like. City 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:44.000 bike is one of them, and yeah, I think there's 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:46.880 something called there's one called Jump. Um. I don't remember 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:48.960 some of the other names of these. I've got a 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:51.640 list of operators here in city of Atlanta that include, 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:53.320 you know, the names and the number of units that 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.280 they have, but I don't have them broken down by 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:58.160 what type of device that they market into in here. 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:03.400 So there's Um, There's Bird, Bows, Bolt, Gotcha, Jump, Lime, Lift, 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:07.640 Spin Wheels. All these are operating within the city limits 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:10.440 of just Atlanta, and you can multiply this by however, 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:15.040 many large city centers are nationwide and then also worldwide. Um. 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:17.000 As we said, you know, just one of those companies 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.720 on Bird, I believe operates in something like a hundred 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:21.840 and twenty different markets. Or maybe I'm thinking of Lime. 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:23.760 I can't remember which, because we had some big news 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:28.960 recently about Lime. Lime has just decided this month to 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.200 pull out of Atlanta. They're they're removing themselves from the 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:35.120 Atlanta market because um of some restrictions that have been 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:37.680 placed on them. Yeah. San Antonio is another place they're 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:40.040 pulling out of, which I found surprising because I felt 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:43.640 like they were everywhere in downtown San Antonio. Yeah, but 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:45.720 you know, Here's the confusing thing is that a lot 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:47.600 of them look the same, right, These all have the 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.960 general shape and appearance of each other. They might have 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:52.760 a little bit of you know, like a different sticker 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.560 package or different color combination that they use, you know, 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:57.640 red and black or purple and black, or green and white, 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:00.080 or whatever it happens to be. They're all branded in 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:03.040 a certain way. But maybe you were seeing you know, 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:05.800 um Bird scooters and thinking they were Lime scooters. And 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:08.800 it's easy to do, easy to confuse, very easy um 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:10.720 Or maybe it was you know, I don't know, a 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:13.120 Bolt scooter, you know, one of the other brands. But 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:14.640 the point is that you know, right here at the 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:17.920 beginning of the turn of the year, in Lime has 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.439 decided to pull out of Atlanta, and they are one 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:22.920 of many companies that has now left Atlanta because of 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:24.600 some of these restrictions that have been put in place. 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.360 And that's due to the earlier accidents that I mentioned. 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.160 There was a rash of of deaths here in Atlanta, 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:34.079 really close together, I mean, within a couple of weeks 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:35.439 of each other. I think there might have been one 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:36.880 that was spaced out a little bit more, you know, 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:38.960 and then a couple right in the road in succession, 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:43.319 rapid succession. That led our mayor UM to decide that 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.680 and these these accidents happened typically at night. So I 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:48.400 let our mayor to decide that there was going to 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.160 be a ban on these e scooters if they were 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:54.720 one of these ones that are actually licensed and permitted 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:57.200 through a bigger company to be run here, not individual 0:09:57.200 --> 0:09:59.960 scooters that people owned. But UM, they decided that there's 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:01.920 gonna be banned on them during the nighttime hours, and 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:05.000 that was deemed to be between nine pm and four am. 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:07.160 So you're not allowed to be on the streets on 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:10.199 an electric scooter between nine pm and four am here 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:12.360 in Atlanta. And unless it's your own, if you own 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:14.559 that scooter, you're fine to do that. If you're on 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:16.680 personal vehicle, or you can still ride bikes and do 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:19.800 whatever you want, but you know, within safe reason, lights 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:21.719 and all that. But there is that band and then 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:23.960 you know there's also they're changing around the way that 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:26.200 these things are licensed and permitted to be here. And 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:28.720 I keep saying permitted, I don't mean they're just saying like, hey, 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:30.720 you can you can be here. I mean I'm talking like, 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:32.599 you know, there's money changing hands for this. You know, 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:35.200 you have to ever permit for each vehicle that you 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:37.320 have on the street. And you know, all those companies 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:39.840 that I just named off in a in a row, Bird, Bows, Bolt, 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:41.800 at cetera, all the way down the list. I mean, 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:43.960 I'm looking at the numbers here of permitted devices and 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:46.760 it comes up to somewhere in the neighborhood. I thought 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:48.840 I saw a number here of like I shoot, I 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:51.600 don't have them total up, but it's like ballpark twelve 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:54.240 thousand vehicles I think is is something like that the 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:56.480 number of vehicles that are on the street, you know, 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:59.640 between all these these these companies. However, I will tell 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:01.840 you this that you know, Lime has now left, but 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:03.480 they're not the first ones to leave. You know. We 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:06.600 we had um Lift pulled their scooters off the streets 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:10.360 as well, Um gotcha took their I think they had bikes. 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:12.680 I think got youa had bikes maybe um there And 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:14.400 there was another one that pulled off as well. But 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:17.360 you know we're talking about you know, taking you know, 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.559 at one swipe, you're taking two thousand of these off 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:22.280 the streets. You know that are that are licensed by 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:25.800 companies like Bird, has two thousand permitted devices here in 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:29.439 the city. Bolt has a thousand, Lime had two thousand, 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:33.120 Lift had two thousand, Spin has two thousand. Company called 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.559 Wheels has one thousands. So these are the types of 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:37.720 numbers that we're talking about. They're they're big numbers, and 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:40.640 there's big money to be earned here. But it's not 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:44.160 costing the user a lot of money. I mean, it's 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:46.480 just by volume. They do so much business and these 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:49.640 things are put into you so often that it's profitable 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:51.520 for the companies to be to still do this even 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.960 with the wear and tear that is associated with these scooters. 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:58.880 And that's the thing. They're marketed as a transportation alternative 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:02.760 and a more eco friendly transportation alternative at that. However, 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:09.680 their lifespan is relatively short. Of course, there's maintenance involved. 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.120 There's programs that people get involved with where they go 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:16.360 and pick up the scooters and then bring them home 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:20.400 and charge them and um so I just feel like 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:24.959 all that transport and all that movement kind of negates 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:28.720 the impact or the lack of impact that the scooters 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:32.280 have on transportation. It's kind of like the uber situation 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.960 where you have ubers clogging the streets you know, so 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:38.680 it's like, so you don't you might have less traffic, 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:40.760 but you saw a bunch of people, you know, pulling 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:45.000 off on undesignated places, dropping people off, causing traffic issues 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:48.079 as well. So they're marketed like their minimal impact, but 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:50.720 they're really not. There's a whole there's a whole movement 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:54.079 around them that causes issues in that ecosystem. I guess. 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:55.680 So that's a good point. I've never thought about it 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:57.840 that way, you know that, you know there we spend 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:01.360 so much fuel transport them back and forth with you know, 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:03.080 some of these different programs that they have, and you've 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:06.240 mentioned that it negates any of the benefit of having 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:08.560 an electric vehicle to do this type of thing. But 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.120 it's convenient as heck, right, I mean for a lot 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:14.120 it can be because they're they're marketed. As we said 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.480 earlier on, it was it was marketed initially, or it's 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:19.560 kind of promoted to the city or whoever they have 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:21.720 to go through for these permits that they get that 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:24.200 you know, these are GPS tract of course, they're electric, 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:27.240 available for rental through mobile applications and you can do 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:29.480 you have an app on your phone, but they're marketed 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.959 as like the first mile and last mile transportation for commuters. 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.800 So you get off the train at the train station 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:37.520 and you still have a mile to go to get 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.200 to your office. You know, normally you'd be walking that distance. 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:42.880 So you can grab a nearby scooter, you know, whatever 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.400 brand that might be, or an e bike, jump on it, 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:47.760 and it'll cost you. In the case of Bird, it's 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.800 a dollar to start, and then it's fifteen cents per 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:53.679 mile or sorry not per mile per minute after that, 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:56.760 and then you immediately shut it off once you're done 0:13:56.800 --> 0:14:00.200 using it and using the app again Parket it's lay old, 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:02.520 as you know, available for the next user. And you know, 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:04.680 there's the whole process of how this whole thing works, 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:07.040 but you get the idea that it's it's a relatively 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:09.600 cheap way to get around. The average rider spends about 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:12.280 three dollars and seventy cents per ride on these things, 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:15.880 so you multiply that by how many rides there are 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:19.160 in a given area in a given time. So I 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:20.840 don't know if his Lime again or Bird, I can't 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:22.760 remember which that I read an article and said the 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:25.680 first year that they were in production, and both those 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:28.080 companies that I just mentioned, by the way, started in 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:31.000 the year seventeen, which is hard to believe because that's 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:32.720 not that long ago. It seems like they've been around 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:34.800 longer than that here in Atlanta anyways, or at least 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:37.600 you know, we've been hearing about them. The first year, 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:41.160 they made something like more than ten million rides. And 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:43.640 I know that doesn't translate exactly into dollars, but if 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.520 it's three seventy five average rider per, you know they're 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:49.400 they're making, you know, lots of lots of money. Let's 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:51.000 put it that with lots of money. And I know 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:53.120 there's a huge overhead and maintenance and all that and 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:56.480 paying employees. Because you said a lot of things there, Kurt, 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:58.560 in that instance where you're speaking just a minute ago, 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:00.440 and you were talking about, you know, how they're marketed, 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.480 their programs that are that are set aside for people 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:06.160 to make money with them. Um, you know, there's a 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:08.080 lot of problems with them as well. There's a lot 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:19.280 of things we can talk about here. One thing that 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:21.360 I want to be sure to talk about it is 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:25.000 the mechanics programs that they offer for these and the 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:28.040 charging programs that they offer for them. Now I keep 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:29.960 using bird as an example, because it's an easy one 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:32.400 to get information about. They've got a lot of promotional 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:35.960 material out there and how to type videos and articles. 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:38.440 If you want to be a bird mechanic, which I 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:40.880 thought was called an ornithologist up until this point, but 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:44.840 it's not. I make her laugh. That's good. Hopefully made 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.280 someone laugh, all right, So all right, that's a different thing. 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:52.040 That's a bird vet alright, So bird bird mechanic. There's 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.800 actually an employment opportunity for fixing and repairing the bird 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:58.560 scooters and likewise with the other scooters. So if you 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:00.400 know you lieb or jump or who have you can 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:02.280 you can do this type of thing. But they also 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:04.920 have a charging employment opportunity as well. You can take 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:07.560 them home and charge them for a fixed rate as well. 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:09.720 And I'm sorry, shouldn't say fixed. It's a floating rate 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:13.240 and it changes based on availability, need all that. Um, 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:15.080 But you do have to choose one. You can't do both. 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:17.360 You can't be a charger and a mechanic. You have 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.000 to choose which one you want to do, which career 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:22.520 path you want to take. And I would say that 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:24.880 this isn't a career I should say, um, this is 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:26.720 one of those things that they refer to as you know, 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:29.160 the gig economy, right, Yeah, this is something that you 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:32.360 do outside of your normal business operation, you know, like 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:34.760 I could do this during the day. I could go 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:37.080 collect bird scooters at night and take them home and 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:38.880 charge them and put them back on the street during 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:43.880 the day. Although some people get pretty territorial, Yes they do. Absolutely. Yeah, 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:47.160 there's a there's a lot of articles and I don't know, 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:49.600 I don't maybe maybe we should not go to in 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.120 depth into that. Let people look into that, because there's 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:55.720 a lot of stories there about how people are getting 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.200 a little bit a little bit testy about other people 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:00.760 swooping in and stealing the birds scooter right in front 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:03.720 of them. And they say stealing, but you know, swiping. Yeah, 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:06.000 I mean it's, as they've said many many times, this 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:07.960 is kind of like Wild West territory here for a 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:11.359 lot of because it's they don't know how to not 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:14.080 anybody really has a specific set of rules or laws 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:16.560 laid down how to handle it self governed and you 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:18.760 know how that goes, Yeah, exactly. So you can sign 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:20.320 up to be a mechanic, you can sign up to 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:24.199 be a a charger, and you just kind of have 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:26.639 to play the game. However, however, you know other people 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:28.600 have been doing it, and then you can maybe adapt 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:30.600 and change and you can make a fair amount of 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.080 money doing either one. Really, but there are some pros 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:35.320 and cons and you should definitely look into both because 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:38.160 you know, hear really good stories about, you know, both 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:39.800 sides of this thing. You know, like it's it's really 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.440 great to be a scooter mechanic because of this, and 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:44.640 you can also find like I thought I would wanted 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:46.840 to be this, but man, it's been a headache. You know, 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:49.680 I've had a barely made any money and it's really difficult. 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:52.440 Or the charging thing. You know, I really thought I 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:54.280 had a plan worked out. It was gonna make a 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:56.280 ton of money every night, but it didn't work out. 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:58.200 And then you hear the other one where there's a 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:01.000 high school kid that makes sick hundred dollars a night 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:04.320 charging Bird scooters in California. And I read that story 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:07.120 and you know, it's amazing that a high schooler could 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:09.320 do that and still go to high school and still 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:11.320 make six hundred bucks a night doing this. That's that's 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:14.960 a remarkable success story for him, right, just an extra job, 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:16.600 but a lot of people are doing that just to 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:18.520