“Oi mate!” - A short story about scooters

Let me tell you a short story about scooters.

It’s 2013. Remember, we’re still a few years away from the first shared e-scooters hitting the streets of Singapore, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Scooters are owned, and human-powered. And those humans are mostly pretty small. Kids, in fact. 

They’re robust, portable, and fun (the scooters, that is). 

And that works for me.

In fact, scooters get my kids to school—literally, and metaphorically.

They ride their scooters to school—but they also look forward to the school run, because scooters make it a fun journey.

Scooters banish to history the days of trotting reluctantly alongside their fast-walking dad. Now, their dad’s left trotting alongside these fast-moving scooters.

And yes—of course dad’s gonna ride a scooter home.

Picture the scene: it’s a beautiful day, the kids have been dispatched, and for whatever reason there’s only one scooter to take home today.

I jump on, and I’m rolling. The kids are right: this is great! It’s fast, it’s fun, it’s exciting, it’s convenient, and I love it!

I’m trundling along—no, I’m gliding—no, I’m flying. I’m loving this. And I’m grinning like a big kid…

…and then seemingly out of nowhere, a delivery truck pulls up next to me, the driver leans out of his window, and bellows, “Oi mate! Ain’t you a bit old to be riding that?!”

And just like that, my scooter experience comes screeching to a halt.

I get off and carry the scooter home, red-faced and disheartened.

Scooters make plenty of sense. They’re convenient, they’re fun, and they’re efficient. 

The most efficient vehicle needs only to be as large as the cargo for which it’s required. And in those moments before the delivery truck incident, a scooter was all that was required.

Fast forward a few years, and all of a sudden scooters are everywhere—in some cities, they appear literally overnight. They’re bigger, better, faster, and stronger than the kick-scooter so briefly enjoyed by yours truly. They’re being proudly ridden by adults. And they’re electric.

There are, of course, some questions. In fact, there are many questions.

Those questions centre around rider and pedestrian safety and insurance; around how e-scooters share the roads with cars, buses, and yes, delivery trucks; around whether scooters are better owned or shared, pay-as-you-go or subscription, docked or free-floating; and around how and whether e-scooters can be integrated into a wider mobility ecosystem alongside public transportation operators who move at a very different speed from fast-moving e-scooter start-ups.

In fact, there’s plenty right there for an episode of Ride: The Urban Mobility Podcast. 

All I can say is, “Oi! Ain’t you interested in a Ride episode on e-scooters?” If so, we have a treat lined up for you. Coming very soon…

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