> In many cases, it's a combination of cost, friction of setting up an app and account, and fear of something going wrong and being fined (for example, parking the scooter out of the operating zone).
I would add that scooters, as urban means of transportation, require a set of extremely specific variables to be successful, e.g. cities with a degree of walkability that would both enable people to go longer distances, with streets that would accommodate the use of scooters, and where bikes aren't already widely adopted.
Cities in the US aren't usually great for scooters, as most are designed around car usage. In Europe, my perception is that bikes and public transportation (buses, trains), are already better and more convenient than scooters.
Anecdotally, my experience in both the US and Europe is that scooters are mostly aimed at younger people and short term tourists, and in cities with bikes available to the public, there is really no use for them.
They might be, but I don't see any added value that bikes don't provide already.
Also, these are three of the largest metro areas in the US, and likely the three most walkable cities in the US. Penetration would need to be way higher for the business to actually scale.
Rental bikes may also be electric. Madrid does this very effectively.
> If you have those 3 cities you're already dealing with 10s of millions of potential customers
That would be the 100% penetration scenario, which is not realistic by any metric, especially in Boston and NYC where they already have strong and efficient public transportation networks.
I would add that scooters, as urban means of transportation, require a set of extremely specific variables to be successful, e.g. cities with a degree of walkability that would both enable people to go longer distances, with streets that would accommodate the use of scooters, and where bikes aren't already widely adopted.
Cities in the US aren't usually great for scooters, as most are designed around car usage. In Europe, my perception is that bikes and public transportation (buses, trains), are already better and more convenient than scooters.
Anecdotally, my experience in both the US and Europe is that scooters are mostly aimed at younger people and short term tourists, and in cities with bikes available to the public, there is really no use for them.