During the first two weeks of Scoot’s operations of shared, electric scooters in San Francisco, more than 200 scooters were either stolen or damaged beyond repair, Scoot CEO Michael Keating wrote in a blog post. As a temporary fix, Scoot attached cable locks to some of its scooters in San Francisco. Now, the company is unveiling its permanent solution.
The solution still relies on a cable lock, but instead of using a padlock to unlock the scooter, you just use the Scoot app. These locks will be deployed sometime this month.
“This will not prevent all theft and vandalism, but it will reduce the rate to one that is sustainable, both operationally and environmentally,” Keating wrote. “It will also have the benefit of keeping Kicks locked to street infrastructure out of the way of pedestrians. We wish we didn’t need this lock but the reality of operating in San Francisco and many other cities is that assets like shared EVs need to be secured so that they can be used.”
These kick scooters are a valuable asset for Scoot. So far, people use these scooters more than any other type of Scoot vehicle. Scoot also offers mopeds and bikes in certain markets.
