Defining the Peskin Ratio, and why (some) scooter networks fail

Teaching cities and scooter operators to work together.

Nobody can agree what success looks like for scooters.

Some – myself included – dream of a future where streets are populated with a healthy mix of efficient, clean, and equitable public transportation and a slew of last-mile micro-mobility services, whether that’s bikes, scooters, or maybe even these funny things called “PodRides.” Why not.

For most cities, that’ll never happen in my lifetime.

It makes me sad, but it’s true. Take San Francisco: between the 490,000 registered cars, 70,000 trucks and 20,000 motorcycles, 275,000 dedicated parking spots which span the length of California’s 840-mile coastline, and both legislators and residents that seem hell-bent on hating anything that isn’t powered by gasoline, a micro-mobility utopia is far out of reach.