Ride-sharing schemes for e-scooters are great. They introduce millions of people to the utility of e-scooters in urban environments. It seems like there’s always a new ride-sharing scheme featuring another brand of e-scooter hitting the streets. Depending on where you live, you can see multiple operators competing for the same local riders.
With so many e-scooters available and more arriving all the time, you may be wondering why anyone would want to own their own e-scooter rather than hire one as needed.
Well, you won’t be surprised to learn that we can list quite a few reasons why you’re better off with your own e-scooter. From convenience to performance to safety to style, we can list them all. So, make sure you’ve got a full charge, get a firm grip on the handlebars and ride into this list of reasons why owning your own e-scooter is better than renting.
No apps, no searching. Sometimes it may seem that e-scooters for hire are everywhere, but you still need one to be nearby when you, well, need one. An available e-scooter may or may not be free and within reasonable walking distance when you’re ready to ride. With your own e-scooter, you move on your schedule and don’t waste time on apps or maps.
Use wherever you are, whenever you want. An extension of the previous point, with your own e-scooter you never have to wonder how long it will take to get to the closest available rental or access multiple applications to compare who’s the nearest. You just grab your scooter and go. While others are following directions on their phone to track down a recently used e-scooter, you’re already halfway to your destination.
No geo locks. Without exception, e-scooters that are part of a fleet are geo-locked via GPS to prevent them from leaving certain areas or boundaries. Cross an invisible line, and the motor switches off. This is done for understandable reasons—making it easier to collect them at night and reset them at designated stations—but results in obvious issues for riders. As long as you stay within the approved geo-zone, you’re fine but what if you need to ride somewhere else? With your own e-scooter, the only thing restricting where you can go is the availability of safe surfaces to ride on. Leave the GPS for checking where you’re headed, not where you can’t go.
Hygiene & cleanliness. There’s no need to go into details, but the age of COVID has heightened awareness of the importance of cleanliness in shared assets. When activating a rental that’s just been left behind by a stranger, you don’t know what you’re getting ready to handle. The peace of mind that comes with knowing something is yours and yours alone with something worth it.
Your ride, your style. While everyone else is on scooters only differentiated by their corpo-colours, having your own means putting your own stamp on it. With Smack Mobility's Electric Scooters, you even get to customize your deck from lots of available designs or even create your own! There’s no mistaking your ride for anyone else’s when you can literally put your very own style under your feet.
Do the math—buying your own can be less expensive. It’s amazing how many first-time users in ride-sharing schemes are surprised to see the total cost of their trip when it shows up on their credit card statement. Yes, it all seems so inexpensive when you think about it on a per-minute basis but those minutes add up fast. Using an e-scooter from time to time just for the novelty is one thing, but if you’re making it a part of your regular commute or your go-to option for getting around, renting costs a lot more than you think. Use a scooter from a ride-sharing programme for a week to go to work and make your usual trips and you’ll see that these are definitely not charities or public services. This obviously depends on how much you use an e-scooter, but the point where you’re better off buying versus renting is much lower than you think.
Rentals are...well, rentals. To explain what we mean, we have to betray a dark secret of the ride-sharing world, something that is true of both bikes and scooters. This is something that’s more visible in bikes because they’re bigger but the same principle applies to scooters. To compensate for the rough, demanding way rentals are often treated, a more solid, tank-like construction design is often used that trades performance and rider experience for durability. For e-scooters, this means that rentals are heavier, harder to handle and less responsive than their single-owner counterparts. The compromise is understandable—first and foremost, hired scooters have to be tough. This is not to say that private e-scooters don’t have all the durability you need, but we think you know the difference in how rentals are treated versus how you use and take care of something that’s yours. By owning your own e-scooter, you can be on the right side of this trade-off and leave the tank driving to others.
Avoid the battery lottery. Walk up to a free ride-sharing scooter, open your app, unlock the scooter, hop on and...see that the battery’s almost dead? Yes, it happens. A lot. Rentals are charged overnight and spend the whole day in use before they see a charging station again. If you’re unlucky, you’ll get a scooter that’s just about ready to go to electric sleep. With Smack Mobility, not only do you know what kind of charge remains in your battery, but you can swap a depleted battery out for a fully charged one to keep going. Out all day on two wheels? Don’t let a drained battery stop you.
Inspired from jivr.co