The uncertain future of shared electric scooters – TechCrunch

Cities everywhere the world has seen two-wheeled electric scooters flocking to the road in the last two years. Scooters like Bird, Lime, Spin, Uber's JUMP, Lyft and others all try to own the first and the last kilometer. The first mile is often understood as the distance between a transportation hub and a person's starting point, while the last mile is the distance between a transportation hub and a person's final destination. These companies want both, and some (Uber, Lyft) also want everything that separates them.

The rise of electric scooters is often compared to that of laps, but there are some key differences. On the one hand, cities are in charge of regulation – not states. And because they are much smaller vehicles, cities can easily pick them up and throw them in the back of a truck if they become a nuisance. Under municipal regulations, data sharing is not an option, it is a prerequisite for companies to obtain permission to deploy scooters in the streets of the city.

The startup ecosystem had become accustomed to the spirit of asking for forgiveness rather than asking for permission. But this is not the case with electric scooters. These companies felt that their activities as a whole were contingent on the continued approval of individual cities around the world. This inherently creates a number of potential conflicts.

It is also not known whether the increase in the number of people using scooters indicates that people have adopted shared services or have simply adopted a new mode of transportation. Some industry experts are wondering if it's just a matter of time between consumers and shared scooters in exchange for theirs.

Between the urban regulators limiting the growth of the operators, the large number of companies engaged after the first and the last kilometer and the threat of the pbadage of the shared property to the property, all will be summarized to the survival of the fittest.

At the mercy of cities

Unlike the car-sharing market, electric scooter drivers are entirely dependent on cities. These cities, rightly so, have a number of concerns ranging from security to sidewalk congestion to equal access to transportation.