04-04-2019, 09:17 AM
(04-04-2019, 07:47 AM)jamincan Wrote:(04-03-2019, 10:53 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I really don't think that's likely. Like I said, I'm pretty sure the fact that the scooters leave the pilot area is by design, and with full understanding. But even if it wasn't, the failure of arbitrary restrictions in the pilot area isn't a logical reason to stop a full rollout.
I think there are bigger more important questions of whether this should be rolled out. I prefer docked systems far more...especially with electric vehicles like this. The system the lime uses for charging in places with full rollouts I believe to be a social negative, and whether you believe the scooters are a net positive or negative in terms of transportation, it is clear that a docked system could mitigate much of the harm these systems do cause.
That being said, the biggest obstacle to rolling this out is the province, which would have to change their laws.
I dislike this trend that tech companies feel that they need to be disruptive, which apparently means flouting and disregarding laws and regulations. That they should be reward for that behaviour is anathema to me.
There was a very good talk about this at True North last year. Basically the thesis was that we can thank Uber for this, they basically proved breaking the law is a successful business model... before that, the claim is VCs wouldn't touch something like that.
I did have a realization however, that this isn't the first time breaking laws has been part of a business model...delivery companies have been doing it for years. Parking illegally is their bread and butter.
To equate that with disruption however...is tricky. Disruption is a change in the status quo...some parts of the status quo are good, and some are bad. I had no love for the taxi industry, doesn't mean I support Uber, but I support the concept of disrupting taxis. That being said, there will always be someone opposed to any disruption, the status quo wouldn't be...er...quo...if it didn't benefit someone. You can disrupt without breaking the laws IF (big if), the government officials are not 'corrupt' towards those benefitted by the status quo, i.e., you cannot disrupt an industry where the politicians are making laws to protect the status quo.
That being said, I do wish that tech companies and industry had more of a focus on actual social good, beyond some "green" initiatives, and "ra ra freedom" claims. There have been a large number of seriously negative social implications of major new tech in the past few years, the scooters on sidewalks is a relatively minor example I think, for that matter, I think the labor model for charging them is a bigger social problem. It's one reason I like Drop Mobility (our bike share provider), they seem to make this a focus of their company--I wouldn't mind seeing how they do scooters.