Scourge of the scooters

• Autores: Donna Lu
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3271, 2020, pág. 25
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Electric scooters are a nightmare: they clog up pavements and are an ungainly eyesore. Here, Lu explains why we still need them. She thinks that they are an essential part of the effort to green city transport. E-scooters are seen as a solution to the "last mile" problem--a potential way to reduce traffic congestion by rapidly getting someone to their final destination. Compactness is a factor: cars can take up 28 times the space of a person riding a bicycle, which is similar in footprint to an e-scooter, if not larger. As far as environmental impact goes, recent research suggests that e-scooters aren't as green as walking, cycling or travelling by moped--but they are still better than cars. And despite numerous reports of fatal accidents, scooting is about as safe as cycling. If more e-scooters means fewer cars on roads, an improvement in local air quality is also a likely outcome.