Last week, I have tested Scoot, Jump Bike and Muni. Today, I got a chance to try the other scooter provide Skip. Sign up was quick. You will need to enter your credit card number and let them take a picture of your driver license using the app. Skip's app is bare bone. The only function is to show you locations of nearest scooters and to unlock one in front of you by scanning the QR code.

Disclosure: my employer Uber owns Jump Bike.

The first step to use Skip was to hunt down one. The app has no reserve function. There is no option to have them start charging money and hold it for you. You may need to walk one or two block to pick it up. Then it runs a risk that it will be taken when you get there and you would have wasted your time. During my trip, I stopped at a shop. I intended to keep it to get back. There is no lock function. You either leave it on or you end the ride and make it available to others. In that case, I had to bring it into the stop with me.

• Time: 25 minutes (w/8 minutes stop)
• Distance: 3.2 mile
• Cost: $4.75

Skip's top speed gets up to 18mph. It is plenty of speed to get around town, easily beating private cars or Uber (assuming there is a scooter available for you). The ride quality in SOMA street is bad because of uneven pavements. It shook my brain out riding over it at 18mph with the scooter's tiny wheel. I even questioned its stability in such environment. This rough experience resembled the one I had with Scoot last time. For this reason I still strongly prefer bikes. I suspect most people like electric kick scooter only because it needs zero exertion.

I spent almost $5 for an half hour of use. This is not at all a bargain. Don't be mistaken by the $1 starting price. I did some research and compare it to other mobility services. Kick scooter's pricing scheme actually makes it the most expensive for all but the very short trips. You can see from the chart above, after about half hour of use, it cost exceeds even the motor scooter with $4 starting price. Jump Bike stand out with a most reasonable price scheme.

2018.10.26 comments