Never to the center of Prague again! How I “tasted” the cursed Lime scooters
In my free time, I like to ride a scooter from a well-known Czech manufacturer, but I’m not such a loyal supporter that I bounce back to work every day on two bikes. My favorite way is through Řeporyje to the Prokop Valley to the river, I take the ferry to the other bank below Vyšehrad and end up on the popular Prague embankment. But that doesn’t work in Lime. From Jinonice Waltrovky, where the editorial office is located, the nearest green field with accessible scooters is at the Smíchovské nádraží metro station.
It is not a problem to rent an electric scooter in the wider center. There are no intercepting car parks, so sometimes users leave an alternative means of transport where they can (not) – in the middle of the sidewalk, at a street light pole or under a bridge in the bushes. The map on your mobile phone will show you which Lime-S are currently charged. Then just come, scan the QR code and after reading the safety instructions and short instructions on the display you can step on and select.
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“Have a helmet. Always! ”Strongly trust the driver’s application, he must be over 18 years of age and should have a driver’s license with him. Yes, you can quickly uncheck the safety section, ignore the advice and just go. But I know from personal experience that a helmet is important on a scooter. This is one of the reasons why the Lime company, like in the USA, is also planning to lend head protection in the Czech Republic, and is currently looking for a suitable partner.
It’s rattling
I learned from users on the Internet that riding on green scooters in the wet is quite a “mess”. So I prayed it wouldn’t rain during the test drive. I realized that people mind a lot when someone walks past them on the sidewalk. Well, yes, but in some places in Prague it just doesn’t work elsewhere. On the paving stones, electric scooters become a practically uncontrollable machine. As former president Václav Klaus would say, it just “rumbles”. However, between pedestrians, I try to drive very slowly, or jump down and lead the scooter side by side.
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When I finally get to the Smíchov embankment, I come across well-known prohibition signs with a picture of electric segway carts. I take it that it also applies to me. I can think of the paraphrase of the message from the Primary School: “Where are my lanes?” However, the cycle lane at Dětský ostrov ends abruptly, but it continues again on Janáček’s embankment.
The company downloads defective batteries
“What’s he doing there ?!” So I brake again, I go to the ground and go around the taxi driver’s car. There was almost a collision on the Legion Bridge, because drivers are trying to loosen the tram lane in front of the intersection at the National Theater, thus “oppressing” cyclists and scooters. Despite the glass of the car, I hear a few ugly words from the steering wheel.
The electric scooter “got scared” and injured the pedestrian
I prefer to end the ride at the department store on Národní třída. I want to be calm, moreover – dressed in a feather winter jacket – due to the higher afternoon temperatures sweat. I drove 3.3 kilometers in 26 minutes, it cost me 67 crowns (Lime in the United States reduced the rate to one dollar, so maybe it will be cheaper in Prague as well). “Great ride! You managed to save 829 grams of CO2, “the mobile application praises me. If I knew what that meant, maybe I would be happy.
A friend who did not want to be named also told me his impressions of the contradictory news. “The problem is those scooters that have braking, not manual, as we know for a wheel with a lever, but with a sliding wheel with a few, as well as adding and removing throttle. When I ran out of the hill in Francouzská Street, I stopped braking at about 30 km / h, which was quite a mess, I braked it with my feet and was quite upset, “he described one of the complaints. I confirm. Manual brakes are also not very reliable. In addition, Lime is withdrawing some scooters due to defective batteries, which could cause a fire. Thus, volunteers, so-called “chargers”, are also temporarily out of work.
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The mentioned friend enjoys riding electric scooters, especially in Vršovice, through Karlín or in Letná, we both consider it important that even a live meter – to be slow – takes the machine uphill. I also understand when a tourist uses the Lime product as an attraction. But safety is just bullshit… Ideally, the map would turn green in the outskirts of Prague, where there are bike paths. Let the center stay red.
“Limes” can enrich already delicious drinks or dishes. But so far, the inhabitants of the metropolis have sour faces. And I didn’t like it very much either. I’ll go home to my red scooter. I don’t want to go to the center anymore! But at the same time, I would not like the new electric scooters to end up in the same way as the Segways, which almost disappeared from the streets of Prague after the city ban.
Dispute over a lake in the Prokop Valley. Will the attractive place smell of swamp?