I walk all over my suburban neighborhood and see many others do so as well. The only thing that keeps suburbs from being walkable are the car drivers and the long distances. Scooters help with both of those issues.
We’ll never have a downtown like Boston. We can do some infill, tweak our land use and do some tearing up and rebuilding. We’re stuck with our downtown form.
Walking around a neighborhood is not the same things as accessing a rich collection of destinations by foot. I grew up in north Raleigh in one of the area’s subdivisions. It would take me more than a mile to reach anything other than another house or my elementary school by foot.
Sure people walk in the suburbs, but are they doing it to go shopping, to see a show, to go out to eat, etc.? Certainly if you live on the edge of a subdivision near a strip center or collection of non-houses, you do. But, that’s not the typical experience.
As for Boston, I’d rather aspire to it than throw in the towel. Don’t underestimate how urban DT Raleigh can be.
Yes plenty of Raleigh and the Triangle is “Go For a Walk-able” but very little of it is actually walkable where you can readily get to most or all of your regular needs on foot.
The thing about scooters and bikes is that they can cover distances of a mile or slightly more very quickly, which extends your range significantly, whereas a quarter mile or so is about the range for a very quick walk, and over half a mile is a distance where many would choose to drive rather than walk if they have the option.
The thing about scooters and e-bikes compared with regular bikes is that they cover these distances easily regardless of hills. E-Scooters are pointless in cities like Chicago or Amsterdam but in hill country like Raleigh it makes a big difference.
So, we have the solution. The scooters belong in the burbs, not in the city center. 
North Raleigh sealed its own fate and you aren’t walking anywhere except around the block to get some fresh air. South Raleigh, on the other hand, is basically a blank slate and could easily be converted into an urban environment.
They belong on the streets downtown. They should be allowed on sidewalks in the suburbs.
31 posts were split to a new topic: Raleigh and Her Suburbs
I understand how we got here, but wow did we get a bit off the “Dockless Scooters for Raleigh” topic. Great banter though. Enjoying everyone’s opinions and info.
Probably the upcoming regs will bring this topic back. 
See the new topic to continue discussing the relationship between Raleigh and the surrounding suburbs.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article221200415.html
Dickie Thompson is a trash bag.
He needs to be replaced next election. I thought Crowder was bad, but he’s amazingly worse.
“I think this is what I based the number on.” -Councilor Thompson
That’s some real leadership right there. A complete overreaction and heavy bias against a new mobility option.
From someone who represents North Raleigh — a place that is utterly unaffected by scooters one way or another.
I am thinking I could kill it with motorized lounge chairs. lol
Right - how many scooters are even in district A? Assuming some at North Hills?
Definitely. I’m thinking more like recliners with a screen attached. If you’ve seen WALL•E, you know what I’m talking about.
I also use the scooters to get from work on Fayeteville street to classes on NC state. If i miss the bus home when it goes to the once an hour time frame I will take a scooter 3 miles to get home. My wife and I share one car (which means she uses it 95% of the time), and the scooters have helped me have another option instead of calling a Lyft to get around. I really appreciate them. There are some bad actors for sure. We should work to improve, but I see them as a plus that helps me reduce car trips. I use a scooter once a week right now.
Brian, there’s more than 100 that I can see north of the beltline. The cap will take care of that, tho. Dickie’s been pretty straight-forward that he doesn’t like these things and that his restrictions are more about removing or limiting the service than trying to find a way to allow them to operate.
Laugh or cry?