120 of the recognisable ‘Go Sharing’ scooters are available
Translated by Thomas Ansell
As reported by the Omrop Fryslân, the scooters are part of the wider ‘Go Sharing’ app, which allows people to hire an eco-friendly scooter in cities across Europe. Once users have arrived at their destination they just park the scooter outside and ‘log out’, leaving it ready for someone else to use.
David Heidbuurt, the service mechanic for the scheme, thinks that it really is the future: “if you live in, for example, Goutum, and want to come and get something to ear in the city, you can just hop on the scooter. It’s a good chunk cheaper than using your car and paying for parking”, he says.
The scooters can be hired per-minute, which costs between 20 and 30 cents. Most users will utilise the scooters for short journeys. “You can’t exactly travel the world on them, you’ll get about 100km from each scooter”, says Heidbuurt.
When the scooters launched in Groningen, they were already booked before ‘landing’ on the streets for use, but in Leeuwarden it took a little more time. Around five minutes passed before the first scooter was hired, by a German resident that had a job interview to attend.
“I had seen that the scooters weren’t available, but I wandered outside and saw that one was here- really very handy!” In German cities, the scooter scheme is already quite well-developed: “there is always something available, and it’s green and environmentally-friendly”, said the first user.
That’s also one of the things that makes it attractive, says Heidbuurt: “everything has to get greener and in that way these electric scooters are perfect. We can see very quickly how low the batteries are, and if they’re empty we can swap them right away.”
More information about the sharing system is available at the Go Sharing website.
Image (not a Go Sharing Scooter) via Wallpaperflare. License-free.
