Where Did All Those Electric Scooters Come From?

This spring, electric bikes and electric scooters started showing up on the streets of a handful of major U.S. cities in droves. Where did they come from? They were put there by a new breed of Silicon Valley companies focused on creating a new "last mile" ride sharing service.

The startups have spread so quickly, Uber and Lyft are now trying to get in on the action.

This week, we talk with Emily Warren, the senior director of public policy at Lime. Lime one of the leading "micromobility" companies hitting the streets. We'll talk with Emily about what this new form of mobility borrows (and hopes to avoid) from the last six years of ride sharing.

"That first wave of on-demand transportation has now prepared the public and the market to accept a much broader variety of transportation modes. They've now opened the door for a whole bunch of additional kinds of options that are coming on the scene. Frankly, I don't think any of us expected that scooters were going to be the thing," says Warren.

Recommended reading: 

Vox: Electric Scooters' Sudden Invasion of American Cities, ExplainedWashington Post: The Electric Scooters Swarming Our City Won’t Solve Our Commuting Calamity

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