[Adraghast]

The pitch is that businesses can reduce parking congestion (is there a dollar value you can pin to this?) by paying you to act as a personal scooter consultant for their employees?

During research did you come across any mass-market applications of this sort of concierge service? It sounds very niche/upscale. I can’t think of any purchase I’ve made where I could have even found someone to hold my hand through it that wasn’t the person making the sale. The closest analogue I can think of is a travel agency.

[wonder_er]

Oh, and:

> I can’t think of any purchase I’ve made where I could have even found someone to hold my hand through it that wasn’t the person making the sale.

May I interest you in adding 'scooter' to your toolbox of personal mobility options???

I've coached friends through the process remotely. Now that I'm trying to turn this into a business, I'd gladly pilot the process remotely.

Scooters are SUPER convenient. Imagine how this parking job would be if these two people were driving cars:

https://www.tiktok.com/@josh_exists/video/718861932119354909...

And here's normalized scooting is in other parts of the world:

https://www.tiktok.com/@josh_exists/video/721247800778776913...

As far as 'how capable is this vehicle?', I rode my scooter from Denver to BC then to Seattle then back to Denver:

https://josh-strava-heatmap.herokuapp.com/ (load the map, zoom out. Way out.)

Lastly, photo album of that trip:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipN8q_LjvazfURfQUjnI21GQ...

And a photo album of my trip to bali, featuring not JUST scooters, but plenty of scooters:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOcwRbTo0dbz6IajQmXP6XK...

A good (new) scooter costs $4500 out the door, and plan on another $600 for a jacket, gloves, a Snell-certified helmet, cell phone mount, and bluetooth headset so you can hear directions from your phone.

Take a motorcycle rider training course, and get the motorcycle endorsement on your drivers license.

Next would be skills-building around slow-speed turns on the scooter. It'll be pretty easy, but you'll have to practice it at least a little.

Boom, done. Welcome to the future.

[grogenaut]

For that cash I can just have a motorcycle or an e-bike. Why would I want a scooter in this case? Not dissing on scooters, I don't get it though. Bikes and motorocyles are a lot more stable at speed than scooters.

OH YOU MEAN A MOPED... not a Lime Scooter. OK... we're on the same page.

Yeah I'll keep rocking my FJR but I'd do a e-moped if I had rides around my house, tho for that an e-bike is more compelling. FJR oddly gets 40+mpg.

[wonder_er]

Hah! I wonder how many other people have made the same mistake. There's really not a great word for this class of vehicle. I have been tempted to use the word 'moped', but got sternly corrected by the staff at sportique scooters when I was last there.

I think I might keep using the word moped though, motor scooter doesn't quite do it, and scooter is too confusing.

Or maybe I could say 'gas scooter' or '125cc scooter' or something.

I recently crossed paths with the the electric moped I met in the wild, and it was beautiful and quiet.

I'm not going to get rid of my 170cc scooter anytime soon, but I would totally consider adding an electric moped to the fleet.

[fxtentacle]

In Asia, everyone calls them Vespa, no matter which brand.

[wonder_er]

Boom. Perfect. This is the word I needed. Calling myself a vespa broker'. Thanks!

[wonder_er]

There is indeed a dollar value one can pin to the extra parking availability. It's business dependent, but absolutely it can be tied to additional revenue.

And yeah, 'personal scooter consultant' is the pitch.

It's concierge and not traditional, but so am I.

As far as mass market application of this concierge service, I don't think there needs to be a mass market adaptation. Once there's some minimum buy-in, scooters will be normalized and more and more people will default into using them.

Its way more likely you would buy a scooter once you'd ridden on a friend's scooter from the gym to a local park for throwing a Frisbee. If, however, you didn't know anyone who owned a scooter, maybe you'd never own your own.

So... I'll hand-hold and concierge whatever is required to get critical mass.

I've already got two friends that have bought scooters, and they love it. I have four more friends now about to take the plunge. Scooters spread through friend groups, it seems.

Once you see how many problems they solve, and how much more fun and convenient they are, it's hard to unsee.

But it's damned hard to be the first person to make that choice.

I, too, don't know that I have seen this exact model before, but each scooter purchase saves a parking spot for another customer, so the businesses I work with will be invested in the results.

It's fun to work on, and everyone I've talked to has been super interested. Parking issues dominate the lives of general managers/directors/owners of Denver area businesses.

They'll try nearly anything to make those problems be less of an issue.