I confess I’m not personally a fan of electric kick scooters — I find them terrifying to ride, particularly on the super-uneven roads of NYC where I live!

Quite apart from the economics of scooter-share companies, though — you’re quite right about the current unprofitability of those firms — there seems to be a pretty robust and growing market in personally-owned ones, certainly in cities. You see ’em all over New York; people use them as a last-mile way to get to and from the subway, fold ’em up and take them into the office or home.

I’d still be too afraid to ride one myself, heh. But plenty of people disagree with me — and a personally owned electric standing scooter solves a lot of problems for them …