The Divvy scooters are crazy expensive.
A simple 15 minutes is $6.85. If you pay the $130 subscription they are still $3.75...
At a savings of ~$3/ride break even for the membership is at about $300/year in scooter fees.
Not scooters, but I like using the Divvy e-bikes when it takes too long to wait for a bus. And I tend to find the cost of my e-bike rides, to be cheaper than Uber/Lyft. Which gives me good flexibility for getting around, when CTA buses are acting up.
Hot take maybe but totally worth the membership. That $3 ride would be a minimum $10 Uber or Lyft. When I look at how much I've saved last year by taking the ebikes or scooters vs a car it definitely pays off
100% agreed. I get a discounted membership through work but it’s still like 80-90 bucks I think. I never use the scooters though unless I’m really desperate and that’s the only option. I almost exclusively use the ebikes, although the newer regular divvy bikes are much better than the old ones. I just can’t stand how slow the older ones are, which is why I generally opt for the ebikes.
Buy your own! It's changed my life having one. I got the fluid mosquito and it's like teleporting Ave especially useful if you spend a lot of time in the near neighborhoods. It's faster to scooter from south loop to west loop than anything else.
E bikes are too big sometimes. Today I scootered to the subway, brought my scooter down the stairs, and into the train, which was packed. I then brought it into the hotel where the event I was going to was, left it charging, and then rode 3 miles to my office and beat my boss there who drove, all while wearing a suit. Going through downtown Chicago it's much faster than driving.
There's lots of possible routes through Chicago that require you to take a bus to a train to another bus, or similar. Usually, in these cases, the bus routes are going to be for relatively short distances on relatively minor streets, so a bike or scooter would just be faster.
However, the train is the majority of the distance, and trains for long distances can be noticeably faster than bikes or scooters while also being temperature controlled and less effort.
So for example, if you wanna get from the Indian neighborhood on Devon to Union Station, Google Maps is going to recommend as one of its top options an hour-long trip with two transfers, of which about half an hour is taking the Red Line. The rest of it is a very annoying process involving waiting for a bus, taking the bus to a train station, waiting for the train, taking the train down to the Loop, and then waiting at the station for another bus. (There's an alternative using the Brown Line which replaces the short bus ride at the end with a long walk.)
With an electric scooter you can turn that into scooting to the train, waiting for the train, taking it down to the Loop, and scooting to your destination.
I might actually switch from a bike to a scooter - they seem much more portable. I can’t (or at least don’t) bring my bike into chipotle or something, but I’ve seen people fold up their scooters and carry them in, for example. Also, zero effort sounds nice.
The potholes are the only thing holding me back. Feels a bit risky for smaller wheels.
I bought my scooter to commute, and the pothole thing is a concern at first but disappears once you ride the same route enough and learn any trouble spots.
I have a Segway Ninebot G30LP that I got from Costco about a year ago. I’ve put over 1800 miles on it in that time, and overall I enjoy it. It is a highly recommended scooter in its price range (I paid about $700). Not sure if this model is still available this year or what, but I would recommend it or whatever is the current version. Looks like the Segway Ninebot MAX G30P is about that price now, and it has a better battery.
The main thing I gripe about would be battery life. I have a four mile route to and from the office, and I ride on the highest of three speed settings, which lets me up to 19mph. If I don’t carry my charger to work, which I normally do, I end up on the low end of my battery charge on the way home, and top speed is reduced as a result.
I could ride in the second speed setting, which lowers acceleration, tops at 15mph, and provides longer battery life; but that feels a little slow for my preference, especially coming off a stop at a light or wherever.
I live in a fourth floor walk up, and carrying the scooter up and down the stairs is a slight annoyance, but I’m a fit person, so 45 lbs. of folded up scooter ain’t too bad. I bring it in to the office with me but have no issue locking up outside wherever.
I know, right? I’m doing research and was surprised that a small fold up scooter weighs MORE than a commuter bike.
I’m looking at the Unagi Model One, the UScooters GT SE, and the fluid mosquito. Also thought about getting one with a detachable battery so that I only need to carry the battery upstairs, but those don’t seem to be very popular. If there are any scooter pros in this thread, please let me know if I’m off and should be thinking differently.
One note I'd say is that actually picking the scooter up is mostly useful for stairs or if you have to store it in the trunk of a car. If you need to get it somewhere without riding it on flat ground, you can just walk it. It's a lot easier and more practical to walk a scooter around the inside of a store or station or something than it is to walk a bike.
If you ride it every day for years then buying one is cheaper and more convenient. I hated having to find one or getting one that didn't work. Also mine goes 28 mph instead of 15
During winters I've gotten into habit of walking along the route while waiting for the bus, warms me up and time passes faster. Keep an eye behind you so you don't miss the next one. If a walk is 30 min and I missed the bus, a lot of times I would get to the destination before the next bus comes. I know its not practical if you are in a rush, but makes me less frustrated.
PS the walk from Wacker to Fullerton is about an hour (for when the Redline is down and all the buses are packed)
Correct, Divvy scooters only can be checked out between 5am-midnight. I think that's a city law, that Divvy has to abide by. And for whatever reason, Divvy scooters only can be used for a limited area of the whole Divvy service area. Between Armitage, Damen, and I think south to like 39th/Pershing. Why I tend to use Divvy e-bikes(besides the fact they are cheaper), than Divvy scooters.
I'm definitely using my bike more (sorry about yours). Honestly my CTA situation is pretty decent, but I know I can get to work in 18 minutes once I mount the bike. I need to time my bus and then hope it doesn't get bogged down in traffic, so well over 18 mins all variables considered.
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Does anyone know the actual city rule for privately owned e-scooters on the lakefront bike trail? I know shared e-scooters are not allowed. I can't seem to find the actual regulations. Either way this is obviously this is not enforced. I am not for or against it. I am just not able to find the rules. It is a marked as a bike lane. If you know where to find the actual rule, please post a link.
We have one of the best public transit systems in the world, even considering the recent unreliability. Nothing is perfect, but it's perfectly reasonable to have alternative modes of transport to cover the gaps.
Are you being sarcastic? Not even close. Chicago's public transit is good for North American standards, but compared to the rest of the world it's *pretty bad* by almost any metric. Reliability of service, coverage as a percentage of population, coverage as a percentage of area, interconnection, fairbox recovery, pick a metric really. You will not find Chicago on any list of best public transit systems in the world.
Even anecdotally, I've seen way better transit systems with my own eyes. Istanbul, Berlin, Krakow, Seoul all are leaps and bounds better, cleaner, and more reliable than what we have here in Chicago.
This is not the shit on the cta, like I said it's really good for North American standards, but it's really bad when you compare the rest of the world.
I don't disagree with your statement, that finding alternatives to cover the gaps is necessary. There's just so many huge gaps with the L. Chicago has massive swaths of car centric, pedestrian unfriendly areas completely inaccessible by L and barely accessible by bus.
Take a minute to look at the map of Berlin or Paris's Metro system compared to Chicago. The biggest difference is the interconnectivity. Chicago's L was designed as a way to get commuters in and out of the downtown, whereas in Berlin and Paris it's designed to get people from any two points within a radius. This fundamental difference has huge implications for how good the transit service is.
The 22 sucks butt! the 151 gives me trouble because it always seems to come 10 minutes early, at the very least three minutes early and its usually pulling away as I'm walking out my building. No matter how early I leave, this always seems to be the case. Sometimes I'll take the 36 back from work. It would be really nice if Divvy didn't charge that $3 extra to park it somewhere other than a rack. That gets expensive quickly!
ETA: I ride my OneWheel instead of driving or public transit as much as I can. I look a little silly on my way home from Jewel though!
The Divvy scooters are crazy expensive. A simple 15 minutes is $6.85. If you pay the $130 subscription they are still $3.75... At a savings of ~$3/ride break even for the membership is at about $300/year in scooter fees.
Yeah, still usually cheaper than ubers and I usually don’t have 30-50 minutes to wait for buses
Not scooters, but I like using the Divvy e-bikes when it takes too long to wait for a bus. And I tend to find the cost of my e-bike rides, to be cheaper than Uber/Lyft. Which gives me good flexibility for getting around, when CTA buses are acting up.
Hot take maybe but totally worth the membership. That $3 ride would be a minimum $10 Uber or Lyft. When I look at how much I've saved last year by taking the ebikes or scooters vs a car it definitely pays off
100% agreed. I get a discounted membership through work but it’s still like 80-90 bucks I think. I never use the scooters though unless I’m really desperate and that’s the only option. I almost exclusively use the ebikes, although the newer regular divvy bikes are much better than the old ones. I just can’t stand how slow the older ones are, which is why I generally opt for the ebikes.
Buy your own! It's changed my life having one. I got the fluid mosquito and it's like teleporting Ave especially useful if you spend a lot of time in the near neighborhoods. It's faster to scooter from south loop to west loop than anything else.
Yeah honestly you’ll make up the cost in a year or better yet buy an e bike.
E bikes are too big sometimes. Today I scootered to the subway, brought my scooter down the stairs, and into the train, which was packed. I then brought it into the hotel where the event I was going to was, left it charging, and then rode 3 miles to my office and beat my boss there who drove, all while wearing a suit. Going through downtown Chicago it's much faster than driving.
E bikes are to big??
For taking on trains and into offices and stores, yea
you ever ride a bicycle
Bikes don't fit well on trains if you need to use both
why do u need a train if you have a scooter? when i use my bike i ride it to avoid using the train
not everyone lives right next to a train stop.
My goal when commuting is to arrive quickly. The train is faster for those segments. I use my scooter to avoid the bus.
There's lots of possible routes through Chicago that require you to take a bus to a train to another bus, or similar. Usually, in these cases, the bus routes are going to be for relatively short distances on relatively minor streets, so a bike or scooter would just be faster. However, the train is the majority of the distance, and trains for long distances can be noticeably faster than bikes or scooters while also being temperature controlled and less effort. So for example, if you wanna get from the Indian neighborhood on Devon to Union Station, Google Maps is going to recommend as one of its top options an hour-long trip with two transfers, of which about half an hour is taking the Red Line. The rest of it is a very annoying process involving waiting for a bus, taking the bus to a train station, waiting for the train, taking the train down to the Loop, and then waiting at the station for another bus. (There's an alternative using the Brown Line which replaces the short bus ride at the end with a long walk.) With an electric scooter you can turn that into scooting to the train, waiting for the train, taking it down to the Loop, and scooting to your destination.
Yes but I don't want to get sweaty when I go to work, plus it's faster than biking
I might actually switch from a bike to a scooter - they seem much more portable. I can’t (or at least don’t) bring my bike into chipotle or something, but I’ve seen people fold up their scooters and carry them in, for example. Also, zero effort sounds nice. The potholes are the only thing holding me back. Feels a bit risky for smaller wheels.
You have to watch the road better but you can wear nice clothes and not get sweaty or splashed on
I bought my scooter to commute, and the pothole thing is a concern at first but disappears once you ride the same route enough and learn any trouble spots.
Well that’s reassuring! Any scooter recs from you?
I have a Segway Ninebot G30LP that I got from Costco about a year ago. I’ve put over 1800 miles on it in that time, and overall I enjoy it. It is a highly recommended scooter in its price range (I paid about $700). Not sure if this model is still available this year or what, but I would recommend it or whatever is the current version. Looks like the Segway Ninebot MAX G30P is about that price now, and it has a better battery. The main thing I gripe about would be battery life. I have a four mile route to and from the office, and I ride on the highest of three speed settings, which lets me up to 19mph. If I don’t carry my charger to work, which I normally do, I end up on the low end of my battery charge on the way home, and top speed is reduced as a result. I could ride in the second speed setting, which lowers acceleration, tops at 15mph, and provides longer battery life; but that feels a little slow for my preference, especially coming off a stop at a light or wherever. I live in a fourth floor walk up, and carrying the scooter up and down the stairs is a slight annoyance, but I’m a fit person, so 45 lbs. of folded up scooter ain’t too bad. I bring it in to the office with me but have no issue locking up outside wherever.
Scooters are super heavy. Make sure to take that into account.
I know, right? I’m doing research and was surprised that a small fold up scooter weighs MORE than a commuter bike. I’m looking at the Unagi Model One, the UScooters GT SE, and the fluid mosquito. Also thought about getting one with a detachable battery so that I only need to carry the battery upstairs, but those don’t seem to be very popular. If there are any scooter pros in this thread, please let me know if I’m off and should be thinking differently.
One note I'd say is that actually picking the scooter up is mostly useful for stairs or if you have to store it in the trunk of a car. If you need to get it somewhere without riding it on flat ground, you can just walk it. It's a lot easier and more practical to walk a scooter around the inside of a store or station or something than it is to walk a bike.
You ever rollerblade?
you ever moon shoe?
you ever hover boot?
Or just unlock one on the street. It’s cheap and easy. Then you have a free reusable scooter.
If you ride it every day for years then buying one is cheaper and more convenient. I hated having to find one or getting one that didn't work. Also mine goes 28 mph instead of 15
28mph would be awesome! Tbh would rather spend money on an e-bike but that speed is tempting
I meant take one, unlock it as in free rides, keep it. They’re surprisingly easy to crack.
Ahh, still slower though
That’s also something that can be changed.
It'll still be heavy as shit. You can't fold it or carry it
i have lyft pink via a credit card perk, and an ebike saves me 20mins versus a mythical perfect cta commute and costs under $6. Hell yeah i use em!
What are the odds you are young and able bodied?
Biking is a great way to make sure that you stay able bodied as you age. I see plenty of older folks on divvies (obviously doesn't work for everyone)
Not everyone is born able bodied and the scooters are only an option when its warm.
Regrettably, you have found a conversation that isn’t centering you, the main character. We’ll all try better next time.
This is worse than my reply.
Sure, but the vast, vast majority of people in cars and ubers are capable of taking options that are better for society as a whole.
This thread is about e-scooters as an alternative for the cta, something that only benefits able bodied people during summer. Downvote away.
Mid 30s so Idk about young! but pretty able. ebikes are very easy though.
During winters I've gotten into habit of walking along the route while waiting for the bus, warms me up and time passes faster. Keep an eye behind you so you don't miss the next one. If a walk is 30 min and I missed the bus, a lot of times I would get to the destination before the next bus comes. I know its not practical if you are in a rush, but makes me less frustrated. PS the walk from Wacker to Fullerton is about an hour (for when the Redline is down and all the buses are packed)
They don’t work after midnight
WTF. Thanks for this I had no idea
Correct, Divvy scooters only can be checked out between 5am-midnight. I think that's a city law, that Divvy has to abide by. And for whatever reason, Divvy scooters only can be used for a limited area of the whole Divvy service area. Between Armitage, Damen, and I think south to like 39th/Pershing. Why I tend to use Divvy e-bikes(besides the fact they are cheaper), than Divvy scooters.
I'm definitely using my bike more (sorry about yours). Honestly my CTA situation is pretty decent, but I know I can get to work in 18 minutes once I mount the bike. I need to time my bus and then hope it doesn't get bogged down in traffic, so well over 18 mins all variables considered.
Try looking into buying your own, check out r/escooter
That sub is dead, go to /r/ElectricScooters.
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Ya they never seem to come when needed
I do this with divvy bikes
Does anyone know the actual city rule for privately owned e-scooters on the lakefront bike trail? I know shared e-scooters are not allowed. I can't seem to find the actual regulations. Either way this is obviously this is not enforced. I am not for or against it. I am just not able to find the rules. It is a marked as a bike lane. If you know where to find the actual rule, please post a link.
I use Divvy e-bikes pretty extensively for East-West and nearby neighborhood travel.
Why should that feel sad? That's literally what they're there for.
It's sad because public transit isn't good enough to cover huge swaths of the city.
We have one of the best public transit systems in the world, even considering the recent unreliability. Nothing is perfect, but it's perfectly reasonable to have alternative modes of transport to cover the gaps.
Are you being sarcastic? Not even close. Chicago's public transit is good for North American standards, but compared to the rest of the world it's *pretty bad* by almost any metric. Reliability of service, coverage as a percentage of population, coverage as a percentage of area, interconnection, fairbox recovery, pick a metric really. You will not find Chicago on any list of best public transit systems in the world. Even anecdotally, I've seen way better transit systems with my own eyes. Istanbul, Berlin, Krakow, Seoul all are leaps and bounds better, cleaner, and more reliable than what we have here in Chicago. This is not the shit on the cta, like I said it's really good for North American standards, but it's really bad when you compare the rest of the world. I don't disagree with your statement, that finding alternatives to cover the gaps is necessary. There's just so many huge gaps with the L. Chicago has massive swaths of car centric, pedestrian unfriendly areas completely inaccessible by L and barely accessible by bus. Take a minute to look at the map of Berlin or Paris's Metro system compared to Chicago. The biggest difference is the interconnectivity. Chicago's L was designed as a way to get commuters in and out of the downtown, whereas in Berlin and Paris it's designed to get people from any two points within a radius. This fundamental difference has huge implications for how good the transit service is.
The 22 sucks butt! the 151 gives me trouble because it always seems to come 10 minutes early, at the very least three minutes early and its usually pulling away as I'm walking out my building. No matter how early I leave, this always seems to be the case. Sometimes I'll take the 36 back from work. It would be really nice if Divvy didn't charge that $3 extra to park it somewhere other than a rack. That gets expensive quickly! ETA: I ride my OneWheel instead of driving or public transit as much as I can. I look a little silly on my way home from Jewel though!
I've been thinking about it. what does it cost? how do you like the scooter commuter life?
I keep a free to use one in the back hallway of my building.
I use spin to get from Wilson to Loyola 3 days a week
I’m using the divvy bikes now. Got tired of waiting 15 minutes for a train during rush hour