For many years I frowned upon e-scooters and those who rode them. I cursed the hordes of broccoli headed teens as they whizzed past, the pavement slabs rippling in their wake. I may even have incentivized my dog to take a piss on the idle scooters that suddenly seemed to proliferate across the streets in my neighbourhood. I always thought I would be too cool to scoot.
That all changed with an experience I had last year, in Orlando of all places. I was in the city for work and staying at a hotel downtown. The downtown areas in many of America’s cities can be quite desolate places, and in Orlando’s case it is a bit grim. The streets are almost empty for most of the day. I was staying in the area as I had to make my way over to the local soccer stadium for a podcast recording that evening. Said stadium being located in the downtown area. From the 35th floor of my depressing AC Marriott Hotel the stadium seemed a short walk away; I would just have to cross under a 10 lane freeway and head down a few more blocks before reaching my goal.
It was high summer and I set out with about 30 minutes to spare. As I exited the hotel, I realized that because my room was on the other side of the building I now had to navigate several additional streets before getting to the mega freeway. The clichés about American non walkable cities are all true. Crossing underneath the humming concrete the Orlando sky began to look ominous. My delayed start had left me short on time with several blocks still to cover.
The stadium itself is in a rough-ish area of Orlando. As I looked ahead I could see a man on a small bike. He was doing continuous circles at an intersection. A few other folks watched on and I realized that there wasn’t really anyone else around with all the cars moving on the freeway above. The guy kept going round and round on his bike. I had my laptop and a few other bits on me. Fourteen years in Latin America has given me a sixth "don't get jumped and robbed" sense so I began to reconsider my route.
Unfortunately I was now late, and in the muggy Florida evening I was starting to overheat. It also seemed more than likely that I would get caught in a thunderstorm. The stadium rafters loomed in the near distance. I thought about ordering an Uber but because of my weird freeway adjacent location I would have still arrived late. Running was not an option as I didn’t want to attract any attention from bicycle man. When I was on the Uber app I saw the “2 wheels” option. Across the street a Lime scooter sat watching on. Tossing my prejudices aside I tapped on the scooter icon. What followed was a seamless onboarding experience. In seconds I was aboard and gliding down the pavement at a cool 25 km/h. I breezed past the troublesome intersection and arrived safe and sound at the stadium right on time. The downpour commenced just as we started recording the podcast episode I was there for.
I was now, as they say, scooter pilled. Who was I to have judged the youths so harshly? This was great fun and it had cost me less than $4. Later that summer I would go on to have several great experiences on the electric Citi Bikes in NYC which opened my eyes even more to rental electric mobility. Lime Bikes, I hear, are the optimum way to move around London and Paris too.
When I got back to Santiago after my Orlando adventure my eyes had been opened to the possibilities. No longer did I look askance at the teens whizzing by; they were now my people.
Santiago is a warm and dry city for most of the year. It also has excellent bike infrastructure with a multitude of bike paths available. The city is a fertile market for e-scooter rental companies and the aforementioned bike lanes are ideal for their electric rivals. There are brands like Lime and Whoosh and even Jet and Bolt. All very cool names but I tend to stick with Lime and Whoosh (Whoosh lets me earn Whoosh points). Back when I worked in an office I would cycle there and back every day, now that I work from home almost all of my in-person meetings are relatively close radius to where I live. Often too far (or it's too hot) to walk but not quite worth driving. The rentable escooters fit the gap perfectly, I scan and glide to the appointed location, casting aside the used scooter on arrival. It's exhilarating, I should probably wear a helmet but I enjoy the freedom; no locks, no helmet, just me discarding my used e-chariot in the middle of a pedestrian footpath and strolling into my meeting.
I have scooted in suits, I have scooted to the dentist, I have delivered magazines by scooter and have even scooted to the golf club. When I had friends over to visit they scooted too and became mildly addicted to the speed.
I don’t see myself buying an e-scooter of my own. Those that are available for purchase seem to go much faster and are therefore far more dangerous. The people who have them also tend to wear motorcycle helmets, it looks weird. There is also the fact of having to look after it which kind of defeats the thrill for me. If I am going to lock something up I would rather it be my bike.
I have yet to scoot anywhere else. I scooted a few more times when I was back in Orlando later in the year. When I was in Tokyo I did attempt it but there were far more restrictions and I didn’t want to end up in a Japanese jail for breaking one of their many rules. To be fair, these rules do help avoid the scooter clutter that we now have in certain parts of Santiago.
In short, if you have not scooted I would recommend giving it a try. It feels like it is one of those VC-funded businesses that will eventually become expensive and bad when the funding runs out. Glide, or whoosh or lime or bolt while you can.
