I Finally Tried One of Those Electric Scooters

By: Alexis M Peters ‘20

Yes, I did it. I gathered my courage and used one of those electric scooters that have been spreading like the sickness that’s been going around lately. I mean they’re everywhere. When they first popped up, I figured they’d never catch on. It seemed too dangerous, too expensive, too inconvenient. Being from Chicago, I sort of forgot that an electric scooter business could actually be quite profitable: there’s no snow in LA. And living at USC, I’ve realized that certain distances are too far to walk, too close to Uber, and too far to Fryft.

But I put off trying those scooters for so long. To be honest I was terrified. I had never stood on a motorized board of any kind, and I was almost certain I would fall on my butt. Or worse: my head. (They tell you to wear a helmet, but hello, I didn’t want to look like a complete dork. [Especially when there are ten-year-olds out here doing wheelies on these things!… I digress.])

Anyway, I finally hopped on one of those scooter-things because I am an avid movie goer and was spending entirely too much money on Lyfts to and from LA Live. It’s about 1.8 miles away, which took me about 14 minutes by scooter.

So: to Lime or not to Lime?

The throttle is really sensitive

I swear I barely even tapped it, and that thing sent me zooming! Which I guess is good that it’s responsive, but it honestly scared me a little at first.

Any little bump in the road can rock your balance

I had to look down at the concrete most of the ride to avoid any little cracks in the road, bumps, or changes in the pavement.

Those suckers can go really fast

Dude. When I say I was zooming. I. Was. Zooming. But any speed faster than 10 mph gave me heart palpitations (I’m a grandma at heart). 

It was really fun

Maybe the element of danger is what gave me such a thrill. Even though I was nervously dodging all the uneven pavement and trying not to lurch forward at 15 mph, I actually had a lot of fun. I will probably use the scooter again.

My phone’s WiFi glitched

When I tried to end the ride, my phone decided to stop connecting to WiFi all of a sudden, so the Lime app wouldn’t end my ride until 4 minutes after I had actually stopped. Not Lime’s fault I guess, but something to be wary of.

Overall, I would recommend people at least try them if you’re into adventure with an element of danger ;)

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