Politik

Motoriserade skotrar invaderar USA:s storstäder

San Francisco liksom många andra av USA:s storstäder invaderas just nu av motoriserade skotrar, ett tecken på att USA:s bilfixering kan vara på väg att falna.

Nellie Bowles och David Streitfeld skriver i New York Times: Electric Scooters Are Causing Havoc. This Man Is Shrugging It Off.

Electric scooters have arrived en masse in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, with companies competing to offer the dockless and rechargeable vehicles. Leading the pack is Mr. VanderZanden’s Bird, with rivals including Spin and LimeBike. The start-ups are buoyed with more than $250 million in venture capital and a firm belief that electric scooters are the future of transportation, at least for a few speedy blocks.

The premise of the start-ups is simple: People can rent the electric scooters for about a $1, plus 10 cents to 15 cents a minute to use, for so-called last-mile transportation. To recharge the scooters, the companies have “chargers,” or people who roam the streets looking to plug in the scooters at night, for which they get paid $5 to $20 per scooter.

The problem is that cities have been shocked to discover that thousands of electric scooters have been dropped onto their sidewalks seemingly overnight. Often, the companies ignored all the usual avenues of getting city approval to set up shop.

Syns samma fenomen även i Sverige undrar man.