Scooter Charger Experiment

Lime Announces New Collection and Drop-Off Windows

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Lime just released a news that they will be experimenting new harvesting and serving times. I personally don’t welcome this change at all. This is just one more reason to ignore Lime.

I collect scooters mostly in the morning. If I find a Lime scooter between 4-7 AM, I was able to serve at anytime before 7 AM the next morning. With this change, everything I collect in the morning is due the same day, 5 PM. This change could make sense if we have a lot in Arlington, but right now, we have less than 10 Lime scooters that we can capture. I am very confused to why Lime is not releasing more scooters in Arlington. It could be one of their best markets. Anyway, here is the email I’ve received

Dear Juicer Community, 

Starting today, we’re launching an experiment in Washington DC to test new collection windows and drop-off requirements. In order to ensure we’re providing the best experience for all Lime users,  we’re launching two collection windows:

AM Collection Window
Start Collection Time: 2:00 AM 
End Collection Time: 11:59 AM
Drop-off By Time: 4 PM
 
This means that you’ll be able to collect scooters from 2AM until 11.59AM and you’ll have until 4PM to deploy them at a LimeHub to receive full payout. 

PM Collection Window
Start Collection Time: 12:00 PM
End Collection Time: 1:59 AM
Deploy By Time: 7 AM

This means that you’ll be able to collect scooters from midday until 1.59AM the next day and you’ll have until 7AM to deploy them at a LimeHub to receive full payout. 

Why are we doing this?
Simply put, we’ve identified this as a potential win-win situation. More charged scooters on the street during the day means more rides for our customers. More collection times for Juicers means more money earned.

Is this available to everyone?
No, it isn’t. We have selected some Juicers to test this new feature in order to evaluate how it works. Not every Juicer in Washington DC is taking part in this experiment. 

What happens after the experiment? 
We are hoping to see great results in order to extend it to more people and more places. We will inform you about our next moves. 

I harvest 1 lime this morning without thinking much. I have to drive to D.C. just to release this one Lime. I also have 16 Birds. Maybe I can release Birds and Lime this afternoon and bring back another stack.

Bird Charger News – Move Tasks

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Bird just sent out Charger News today. It is mostly about the new Move Tasks. It is being tested by a select group of chargers in each city. I’m not in the beta testing, but my friend is currently beta-testing it in Arlington, VA.

Bird Updates – June 7, 2019

Make more with Move Tasks 
We’re currently testing a new type of task called Move in the following cities: Oakland, Long Beach, Louisville, Arlington, Denver, San Diego, Los Angeles, Nashville, San Antonio, Phoenix, and Dallas — more to come soon. 

Simply relocate designated Birds to nearby nests (typically short distances). These Birds don’t need to be charged, just moved to a different area. 

To complete Move tasks, capture and release into any available nest within 2 hours, and your payment will be initiated within 1-3 business days.

We are diligently working to get Move tasks into more markets in the coming months, so be on the look-out for these pins on your charger map. 

Other updates are nothing new. Just a few reminders about our safety when charging, and the use of Community Mode.

Lime Scooters Are Coming to Montgomery County, MD

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It is official. Lime is launching its scooter fleet in Montgomery County, Maryland. Lime is hosting an onboarding/launch event for the Juicers on Saturday, June 8th.

I’ve received the invitation to the meeting, but I can’t be there on Saturday. It will be interesting to see where the majority of the scooters will be distributed. It could be closer than Arlington from my location. I might end up charging Lime scooters from Montgomery County.

Here is the full message from Lime about the launch.

Hey Juicer!

We are excited to be bringing Limes into Montgomery County this weekend. We will be hosting an Onboarding Event for our Juicer Community and wanted to invite you!

When: Saturday, June 8, at 12:30 PM
Where: Veteran’s Plaza – 1 Veterans Pl, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Why: Our main goal is really to get to know you. You will meet and mingle with fellow juicers and the Local Operations Manager. We will also share a little bit on our goals/mission, newest updates on the city and answer any questions you have.

Please be sure to RSVP for the event via the button below so we can get a solid headcount. 

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Lime

Welcome to Montgomery County!

I still haven’t received a response from Lime why they didn’t launch in Fairfax County in March.

Skip is Finally Deploying Inspected Scooters in D.C.

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It’s been almost a week since Skip suspended its scooters from Washington D.C. and Arlington, Virginia due to the external battery fire incident.

Skip is slowly releasing inspected scooters back into the D.C. market. Rangers are instructed to bring in the caged scooters to the service center to be inspected. Only the ones that pass the inspection are allowed to be released in the drop zones.

Here is the update from Skip.

Update #1

Hello Rangers, we have an update regarding scooter deployments!

Before any scooters are to be deployed, the batteries must first be inspected by a member of our operations team. If any of your scooters have an external battery case (the protective metal wire unit surrounding the battery on the stem), you may bring them to our repair location for inspection starting now through the evening and night.

Only scooters with these battery cases will be deployed directly to the streets (after inspection). For scooters without cases, you may either continue to hold them until later this week (still earning $1 per day per scooter held), or you may bring them to our repair location to drop off throughout the night and evening. Let us know if you have any questions!

Update #2

Hello Rangers – this is a reminder that you CANNOT deploy your scooters on your own until they have been inspected or taken into possession by a member of the Skip operations team.

You may see dropzones available, but these are ONLY for the Rangers who have taken their scooters into our repair location. Please see the previous message for instruction, and thank you for your help!

Skip is not sure what to do about the ones without cage. My advice is.. just remove the external batteries for now until they find a solution. Those external batteries are nothing but trouble.

Bird Increases the Minimum Bounty to $4 in Arlington, VA and Washington, D.C.

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No more $3 scooters in Arlington and DC. The minimum bounty for Bird is now $4. This was a great decision. Those $3 scooters were left on the streets for over a week because no one picked them up. We brought up this issue during our D.C. charger meeting with Bird GM.

We emphasized that Bird was losing money on $3 scooters because they are not being ridden. Bird heard us and made the change quickly.

We have to remember that this was a calculated business decision. To make up for the $1 increase, although it is not confirmed, Bird removed $7 and $8 bounties. Some may not like the change because of this. I know a few full-time chargers who averages $6-7 per scooter everyday. They are not happy at all.

This update worked like charm though. Most of the abandoned scooters got picked up today finally.