[throwawaymath]

Great observation.

> The counter example to these companies are the ones that quickly raised capital to dump scooters on public streets before they could be shut down by cities.

I live in NYC, and I’m frequently in Westchester (the county immediately north of NYC, for those not familiar with New York). There’s been a large influx of Lime bikes in the past several months. My opinion on Lime - the bike/scooter company - has quickly evolved from idle curiosity, to weak dislike, to outright disdain. That evolution started happening when I saw Lime bikes being parked in arbitrary places that blocked pedestrian foot traffic, but I think the straw that broke the camel’s back was when someone parked a Lime bike directly in the spot I usually place my garbage.

Sometimes the hustle of skirting regulation seems to be a net positive. Company culture notwithstanding, I’m happy overall that Uber exists as a concept. I don’t have a savvy opinion about their future, but I enjoy Uber rides significantly more than yellow cabs. Likewise I’ve stayed in Airbnbs before and enjoyed the experience, though I wouldn’t say it’s changed my day to day life as much.

But other times it seems like companies are being actively negligent in their awareness of the legislations they’re flippantly ignoring and the consequences of doing so. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for a system being disrupted which depends on the artificial scarcity of taxi medallions. On the other hand I find it very frustrating when my sidewalk or park is “disrupted” by a random bright green bike that yells at you if you try to move it without paying.

I wish there were a way to easily categorize the behavior of companies - between those whose cavalier approach to disruption mostly impacts existing incumbents, and those whose approach is actually a pain to end users. Sometimes the laws are legitimately outdated or very inefficient, and disregarding them vastly improves the user experience. But other times - like with Lime - it feels as though companies are pointing to those examples so they can get away with a “product” that automatically opts you into a “new normal” just because a subset of people use it.

[oftenwrong]

Uber's disruption subverted the artificial scarcity of for-hire vehicles.

Lime's disruption did not change the artificial scarcity of public space that isn't dedicated to cars.

Public space in the NY metro area is largely devoted to car driving and car parking. An Uber car can tap into this vast resource, but a Lime bike cannot. Things that are not cars are forced to compete for the scarce non-car space. This includes pedestrians, Lime bikes, and garbage bins. Note that Uber is only significantly controversial in places like Manhattan, where car-dedicated space is most scarce.

I think this is part of why these two types of companies have (mostly) fallen on opposite sides of public opinion.

[Reedx]

> but I think the straw that broke the camel’s back was when someone parked a Lime bike directly in the spot I usually place my garbage

Granted that's a problem and hopefully they're working to discourage bad behavior. But traffic and pollution are bigger problems that bikes and scooters help with. Does the fact that they're sometimes misplaced mean it's a net negative?

[emodendroket]

The scooters might be good for this, but Uber is likely encouraging more people to either drive around looking for fares or hail a ride when they would normally use the train or walk. So the brave new world of no regulation doesn't necessarily trend toward a greener world.

[zaphod12]

I agree with almost everything you've said, but have to mention that Lime bike was entirely endorsed by White Plains - https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/white-pla...

Not sure if they're winding up in other towns nearby (inevitable, I guess), but in this case the city was totally on board with them showing up!

[throwawaymath]

Yep, they end up as far south as the Bronx, and are pretty ubiquitous even in Yonkers. Curiously, I have not observed Lime bikes being strewn around haphazardly in White Plains. I would venture a guess that's because the company pays more attention to the city that explicitly sanctioned them.

[julianwachholz]

I wonder did the person parking the bike in your garbage disposal spot know that it was your personal spot?

We don't throw our trash bags out in the street but put them in larger containers. Can't park a bike on those.

[throwawaymath]

I use containers as well, but do you keep them outside your home at all times? There's no substantial difference between a trash container and a garbage bag if you're talking about the containers that fit three - five bags of garbage or so. In my locality you can be fined for leaving the container - or loose bags, or anything really - out on non-pickup days.

[paulcole]

> the straw that broke the camel’s back was when someone parked a Lime bike directly in the spot I usually place my garbage.

Is this spot on your property?

[throwawaymath]

That's a good question - I'm not sure. It's about 10 feet from my door. Technically speaking I'm "responsible" for maintaining it under NY law, but I don't know if it's strictly private property. The city can (and does) ticket homeowners when something is blocking their curb if it's 1) a tortious danger to pedestrians (i.e. snow) or 2) interfering with municipal activity, like garbage pickup.

That being said I'm not really concerned about being ticketed because it happens so rarely. I'm more concerned about neighborhood appearance and being able to place my garbage in a consistent spot. For context, this is in an area which is more suburban than urban. Having a regular bike chained to a sign outside my door would be equally out of place.

[sethherr]

Is having cars parked on the street out of place? I agree that bikes blocking pedestrian right of way is bad and needs to be stopped. The easiest way to do that is to replace some of the car parking with bike parking.

The concept that a bike parked on your street would be bad for your neighborhood is an opinion you should rethink - bikes are great!