Do you live in a busy city? Are most places between an inconvenient short drive or a tiring long walk?

I live in San Francisco city and my commute to work is around 1.5 miles. After work I end up commuting around town for other social activities. How can you not? You are in “THE CITY”.

You have a variety of transportation options to choose from in the city:

Personal: Drive a car. If you have mostly lived in the suburbs, you are in for a rude awakening. Finding free parking is like winning the lottery. Most parking garages provide paid hourly, daily or monthly options. Fees range anywhere from $5 for the first hour to $350 a month. Monthly passes are tied to a specific garage, which means if you park anywhere else you have to pay more. These small fees here and there add up very quickly.

Public: San Francisco has Muni, Ferry, Bart, Buses etc. Unless your destination falls along the designated route, you have to walk from the stop to your desired location.

Private: There are private services such as Taxis, Uber and Lyft. Uber and Lyft are available anywhere within minutes. The ride sharing options are very competitive. My “Express Pool” expense is less than Muni or Bart at times for the same trip.

Most companies in the city provide their employees with some form of monthly commuter benefit. Until recently I was a loyal customer of these services and used them at least 3 times a day. But certain things like walking a few blocks for pickup or drop-off — in not so good neighborhoods, inaccuracy of the maps app, unreliability of drivers, surcharges etc started to bother me.

The one thing that I missed was the convenience of being on my own and going anywhere I wanted to quickly without having to jump through hoops.

Necessity leads to invention

In the age of retro games, Nintendo resurgence, dad sneakers, another thing making a comeback is scooters, and this time around its electric — electric scooters.

In 2018 these electric scooters started to storm the San Francisco neighborhoods. First Bird, then Lime and now Skip. Cost of renting these scooters was no less than my Uber pool rides. But owning them costs anywhere from $400-$600. Why rent when you can buy? If I used the scooter daily, it would pay for itself in 3 months.

I was eyeing the Xiaomi m365 but they had been out of stock for a long time. As soon as one was available I purchased it via Amazon.

Specification

The scooter assembly is easy and does not take up a lot of space. It folds for compact storage, but I found it easy to stow away without folding it. Charging it is as easy as charging your phone or laptop and one complete charge lasts me 5 days. Xiaomi says the battery allows for upto 18.6 miles of riding on one charge.

Here are some best practices that I follow

Wear a helmet: I do not like helmets, yet that is no excuse to not wear one. A lot is at stake with respect to personal safety. And yes I was concerned about the helmet messing up my hair but I choose safety. I purchased mine from Mike’s bikes, but you could buy one from any bike store or online.

Ride on the road not on the sidewalk: Sidewalks as the name suggests are for walking not for riding a scooter. There are people walking, standing, chatting, going in and out of stores on the sidewalks. When you’re on a scooter the sidewalk becomes an obstacle course.

Follow the direction of traffic: Ride the scooter in the bike lanes and follow the traffic. Please follow all the traffic rules — Stop at red lights, honor one-ways and avoid going against the traffic. Increase your chances of safety by not surprising other drivers.

Here are some of my observations

Center of gravity is close to the handle: Keep your weight as close to the front as possible. Sudden acceleration can jerk the bike forward throwing you off balance.

Keep a flexible stance: Avoid using a rigid posture. If you allow your knees to have a slight bend, you manage to react quickly to uneven surfaces.

Start slow until you gain the skills: You will be surprised how fast these scooters can go. However, they are not a replacement for your car. Don’t speed beyond what feels safe as its easy to lose control and balance even for experienced riders. If you try to brake at high speeds the wheels can skid and lock up. This can easily launch you over the handle.

Death grips can be deadly: One time when riding downhill, the scooter gathered speed, I panicked and my reaction was to squeeze the brakes for dear life. This locked up the wheels and the scooter propelled me forward straight onto the asphalt. I busted both my knees and my palms. I will neither deny nor confirm if this video had anything to do with pumping some overconfidence through my veins. Wish I had a video of that epic incident. Jokes apart, that fall was a wake up call to take scooters seriously on public roads as a daily commuter.

Repair shops: I have not had the need to service the scooter yet. But when I did a quick search on Yelp I found quite a few service shops around. Given the popularity of these scooters and rise in stunts, I think there will be more repair shops in the coming months.

Scooter theft: As the popularity of scooters rises, they can be easy target for their thieves. Unlike bikes there aren’t many ways you can lock them down safely. Businesses are yet to figure out a way to store them safely while customers shop with them. And if we learn anything from bike theft stats from last year- year-round cyclists were 90 percent more likely than others to have a bike stolen.

Stay safe! And feel free to share your scooter stories.