KCRag Forum

Lucas did? Thought that was a shields thing?

i told you it was a hazy recollection! did a quick google, found a 11/28/18 star article that said it was a shields proposal that lucas/canady/loar voted for and wagner/fowler voted against. i would link to it, but it's the star and i don't like giving them clicks.

Props to the Bird delivery guy who set out 10 birds on the desolate stretch of Independence Ave. between Charlotte and I-29.

Lol I saw those the other day and thought it was odd to have so many there.

wahoowa wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2019 9:52 am i told you it was a hazy recollection! did a quick google, found a 11/28/18 star article that said it was a shields proposal that lucas/canady/loar voted for and wagner/fowler voted against. i would link to it, but it's the star and i don't like giving them clicks.

"I found the coverage useful, but they suck."

Sign of the times. Chinatown Market...

RideKC scooters should hit the streets this week, with a major difference in that you have to lock them to something to end your trip. Spin scooters should launch in a couple of weeks, and work just like Bird and Lime.

Hmm, having to lock to something could be confusing to overall scooter experience as a whole.

Does a something include a street sign ? A bench?

earthling wrote: ↑Mon May 27, 2019 11:50 am Hmm, having to lock to something could be confusing to overall scooter experience as a whole.

Sidewalk clutter or user inconvenience, pick your poison. You will be able to lock it to anything legal for a bike (except RideKC bus stop signs) in a week or so. Hasn’t been enabled yet.

I see that the Drop app has been updated to handle scooters. Shows same designated locations as ebikes, currently showing 0 scooters everywhere. Can scooters be locked in more locations than ebikes or same designations?

I'm now seeing the benefit. So even if not as convenient as other scooter services in terms of drop off, it will be nice to have known locations to find scooters. Overall should be a nice 3rd service, especially for bus riders. If it were only scooter service, might be more of an issue. Ideally nearly every bus stop would become designated locations within the service area.

Look forward to Drop and RideKC apps consolidating as one. Might also attract more usage when combined.

earthling wrote: ↑Mon May 27, 2019 12:58 pm I see that the Drop app has been updated to handle scooters. Shows same designated locations as ebikes, currently showing 0 scooters everywhere. Can scooters be locked in more locations than ebikes or same designations?

I'm now seeing the benefit. So even if not as convenient as other scooter services in terms of drop off, it will be nice to have known locations to find scooters. Overall should be a nice 3rd service, especially for bus riders. If it were only scooter service, might be more of an issue. Ideally nearly every bus stop would become designated locations within the service area.

Look forward to Drop and RideKC apps consolidating as one. Might also attract more usage when combined.

Drop (RideKC) scooters and e-bikes can be locked in the same places.

A combined app is in the works for later this year. You'll probably see Drop credits added to a B-cycle membership first.

The spin app now is active for KC. No scooters on the map yet.

New "pilot" scooter/bike parking at 19th & Baltimore (another spot is at 13th & Grand):

Nice to have them off the sidewalks where people apparently just kick them over in disgust or something. Can kinda understand the sentiment after almost being mowed down by a scootering couple while walking down the sidewalk along Baltimore the other day.

I wholeheartedly approve of eroding reliance upon the automobile, but these e-scooters seem awfully risky. Particularly without a helmet. How many people have faceplanted after getting a wheel lodged in the streetcar track? I have to avert my eyes when I see people on Main on these things. I'm terrified they're going to throw themselves into oncoming traffic. Which, if it hasn't happened yet, surely is only a matter of time.

mean wrote: ↑Wed Jun 05, 2019 10:50 pm Nice to have them off the sidewalks where people apparently just kick them over in disgust or something. Can kinda understand the sentiment after almost being mowed down by a scootering couple while walking down the sidewalk along Baltimore the other day.

I wholeheartedly approve of eroding reliance upon the automobile, but these e-scooters seem awfully risky. Particularly without a helmet. How many people have faceplanted after getting a wheel lodged in the streetcar track? I have to avert my eyes when I see people on Main on these things. I'm terrified they're going to throw themselves into oncoming traffic. Which, if it hasn't happened yet, surely is only a matter of time.

You're making all the same mistakes people make time and time again. Finding fault with a new technology because societal norms haven't yet been identified and followed doesn't negate the value of the technology.

Just because car drivers can be so stupid this happens doesn't mean they'll be banned from the road.
https://www.reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/c ... l_of_them/

flyingember wrote: ↑Thu Jun 06, 2019 8:14 am
https://www.reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/c ... l_of_them/

You could caption that photo "Broadway, Downtown Kansas City, Afternoon Rush Hour" and almost pass it off as the truth.

flyingember wrote: ↑Thu Jun 06, 2019 8:14 am

mean wrote: ↑Wed Jun 05, 2019 10:50 pm Nice to have them off the sidewalks where people apparently just kick them over in disgust or something. Can kinda understand the sentiment after almost being mowed down by a scootering couple while walking down the sidewalk along Baltimore the other day.

I wholeheartedly approve of eroding reliance upon the automobile, but these e-scooters seem awfully risky. Particularly without a helmet. How many people have faceplanted after getting a wheel lodged in the streetcar track? I have to avert my eyes when I see people on Main on these things. I'm terrified they're going to throw themselves into oncoming traffic. Which, if it hasn't happened yet, surely is only a matter of time.

You're making all the same mistakes people make time and time again. Finding fault with a new technology because societal norms haven't yet been identified and followed doesn't negate the value of the technology.

Just because car drivers can be so stupid this happens doesn't mean they'll be banned from the road.
https://www.reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/c ... l_of_them/

Uh, I'm not finding fault with the technology. The technology bit--which is largely the whole GPS-in-the-scooter-tied-to-an-app-on-your-phone thing--has nothing to do with it. The batteries getting smaller is a bit of it, but that just makes them faster and more dangerous and isn't really the most important piece of tech except insofar as the increased speed = more kinetic energy transferred to your skull when you eat shit without a helmet (the solution is a less flashy piece of tech called a helmet fyi).

Anyway, it's not the tech I'm finding fault with, it's people using it in stupid and dangerous ways because they're dumb in the very particular way virtually everyone is dumb before a certain age (or after a few drinks): they think they are invincible.

It'll get worked out eventually, it's just the chaos of the relative newness, the lack of understanding of how these things fit into society and the rules of the road. Also not enough people have been killed (not that I want anyone to be killed, but society learns lessons the hard way) to make people in general understand how not-very-fast you have to be going to suffer a pretty traumatic brain injury.

I think the biggest frustration scooter advocates have especially in KC is there aren't a ton of safe places infrastructure wise and driver courtesy wise to ride them safely. That pushes unconfident riders onto the sidewalks where nobody wants them.

All the while the media reports come flooding in about how dangerous scooters are for the click through story where non scooter riders can point and laugh at that damn 20 year old that was "probably going to fast and not wearing s helmet". No real coverage of why and how the situation can be improved for all modes of transportation.

Are there idiot users who go too fast and act a fool and do what they aren't supposed to? Sure but we've been letting people drive like that for decades now and nobody seems to want to ban cars.

I want to say the Mobility Lanes on Grand were some of the coolest things I've seen in years in KC. That was such a cool project and really wish we could expand that up and down Grand along with other overbuilt roads. 

I love the scoots and generally they work best in the CBD and Crossroads. They're really difficult to ride in the Plaza/North plaza area: really hilly and narrow streets with heavy traffic and no usable bike lanes. Road it from Plaza liquor area to Fred P. Ott's and it was a bit of a challenge to say the least.