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    Surrealist Scooters Of Tacoma
    Surrealist Scooters Of Tacoma
    Surrealist Scooters Of Tacoma
    Ebook159 pages2 minutes

    Surrealist Scooters Of Tacoma

    By Marques Vickers

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    About this ebook

    Since establishing a free-floating scooter rental program in late 2018, the city of Tacoma has been plagued by missing equipment. Author and photographer Marques Vickers has meticulously tracked down and photographed missing inventory in some of the most remote and incredulous locations imaginable.

    This edition documents the Odyssey of missing scooters with tongue-in-check evidence offering neither explanation nor commentary to explain the seemingly implausible.

    Dockless scooters have proven ideal for short distance trips and have become even more popular than bicycle sharing programs. The city of Seattle currently operates approximately 20% of the national electrical bicycle inventory, but has yet to permit a scooter-sharing program. This formality will likely be overcome shortly. San Francisco, Los Angeles and Portland have instituted programs in place.

    The scooters are intended to be operated on sidewalks, roads, alleys, and shoulders, but not in bike lanes, trails, or pedestrian-only paths. The rules regarding safety standards, permit requirements, service levels, and parking of the scooters have been modeled after Seattle’s bike sharing program.

    Within Tacoma, two mainstream scooter companies, Lime and Bird, currently participate in the mobility scooter program. Inventory maintenance is conducted by a unique band of independent contractors called Lime Juicers and Bird Nesters.

    As evening descends and scooter power meters lower, these individuals roam the streets and scavenger depleted scooters. The equipment is then recharged at their residence and relocated back to prominent sidewalk locations the next morning.

    Unpleasant realities have darkened the program’s long-term outlook in several other metropolitan markets.

    Exposed collisions at 15 miles-per-hour are extremely hazardous. In a 2019 study published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open examining scooter ridership injuries, the results were predictable. In tracking emergency room visitations, contusions, sprains, and lacerations were the most common injuries. More severe multiple bone fractures, broken ribs, joint injuries, and head trauma were common. Two disturbing factors emerged from these statistics. The majority of injured riders were not wearing protective helmets and a disproportionate percentage were minors.

    There are numerous financial and ecological challenges accompanying this technology. The lithium batteries require processing centers to be recycled. Some of the fleet operators claim these programs are handled in-house. The layered equipment piling up in scrap years makes some of these claims questionable. In China, where bicycle and scooter sharing programs initiated, published reports indicate abandoned equipment is filling vast fields outside major cities.

    There has become a significant counter reaction to the proliferation of these lightweight transportation vehicles. Extreme reactions have varied from throwing scooters into bodies of water, trashcans, and even toilets.

    One of the intentioned objectives of the scooter-sharing program is to encourage worker commuting. Statistics have confirmed this has occurred. However, a commuter usually orders their own equipment (often priced under $500) effectively ending an important stream of recurring revenue to the scooter companies.

    Missing scooter equipment, snowy sidewalks, vandalism, charger fraud and increasing government regulation scrutiny have dampened investors’ interest in scooter-sharing companies. Venture Capitalists crave innovation...but only if it is financially profitable and sustainable.

    Illegal but readily available conversion kits (retailing for under $35) have enabled unscrupulous users to transform public accessible equipment into personal scooters. This edition photographs some of their illicit and improbable parked locations.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMarques Vickers
    Release dateAug 2, 2020
    ISBN9781005358068
    Surrealist Scooters Of Tacoma
    Author

    Marques Vickers

    Visual Artist, Writer and Photographer Marques Vickers is a California native presently living in the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle, Washington regions. He was born in 1957 and raised in Vallejo, California. He is a 1979 Business Administration graduate from Azusa Pacific University in the Los Angeles area. Following graduation, he became the Public Relations and ultimately Executive Director of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce between 1979-84. He subsequently became the Vice President of Sales for AsTRA Tours and Travel in Westwood between 1984-86. Following a one-year residence in Dijon, France where he studied at the University of Bourgogne, he began Marquis Enterprises in 1987. His company operations have included sports apparel exporting, travel and tour operations, wine brokering, publishing, rare book and collectibles reselling. He has established numerous e-commerce, barter exchange and art websites including MarquesV.com, ArtsInAmerica.com, InsiderSeriesBooks.com, DiscountVintages.com and WineScalper.com. Between 2005-2009, he relocated to the Languedoc region of southern France. He concentrated on his painting and sculptural work while restoring two 19th century stone village residences. His figurative painting, photography and sculptural works have been sold and exhibited internationally since 1986. He re-established his Pacific Coast residence in 2009 and has focused his creative productivity on writing and photography. His published works span a diverse variety of subjects including true crime, international travel, California wines, architecture, history, Southern France, Pacific Coast attractions, fiction, auctions, fine art marketing, poetry, fiction and photojournalism. He has two daughters, Charline and Caroline who presently reside in Europe.

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      Book preview

      Surrealist Scooters Of Tacoma - Marques Vickers

      Surrealist Scooters Of Tacoma

      Published by Marques Vickers at Smashwords

      Copyright 2020 Marques Vickers

      MARQUIS PUBLISHING

      HERRON ISLAND, WASHINGTON

      Unscrupulous and Surrealistic Scooter Sightings

      In September 2018, the City of Tacoma launched a free-floating electrical bicycle and scooter rental program. Initiated as a two-month pilot program, 250 scooters were prominently located along visibly prominent downtown sidewalks, the popular Ruston Point walkway, Sixth and Jackson Avenue locations. Scanning a cell phone application with a credit card activates consumer rental.

      Dockless scooters have proven ideal for short distance trips and have become even more popular than bicycle sharing programs. The city of Seattle currently operates approximately 20% of the national electrical bicycle inventory, but has yet to permit a scooter-sharing program. This

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