MADRID: Cities across Spain are grappling with electric scooters that have popped up on sidewalks across the country, helping riders zip around but exasperating drivers and pedestrians.
In Madrid public opinion is divided over the hundreds of electric scooters which California-based start-up Lime — partly owned by ride-hailing Uber and Google parent company Alphabet — has made available since mid-August.
Unlike schemes involving shared bicycles that typically must be left in docking stations, the scooters are dockless, leaving riders responsible for parking them out of the way. The next rider can find the nearest scooter with a smartphone app, unlock it and use it for a fee.
Similar electric scooter sharing programs have been introduced in other European cities including Paris, Vienna and Zurich.
In Madrid, Lime’s scooters — which have already been used over 100,000 times — are tolerated by the left-wing city hall, intent on reducing pollution.
But the scooters are often left in places where they obstruct sidewalks — and their users often speed by pedestrians or hog roads.
Last month a video of two people, including a child, wearing masks while they raced along a highway near the Mediterranean port of Valencia on an electric scooter went viral.
“They don’t respect anything at all. We need rules. It’s crazy. They ride on lanes reserved for buses and taxis. They cross in front of cars,” Fernando Sobrino, a 59-year-old taxi driver, said as he waited for passengers in the center of Madrid.
Jose Manuel, a 55-year-old salesman, complained the scooters “ride on sidewalks without any control.”
“There is a risk of getting rear-ended by one as happened to me the other day,” he said as he made his way along the Gran Via, a busiest shopping street in central Madrid.
The arrival of the scooters in Madrid follows the introduction of a public electric bike share system in June 2014.
Users of the scooters are delighted.
“You move around faster, you can visit more areas, it’s relaxing and easy to use,” said Monica Rodriguez, 58, at Madrid’s bustling Retiro park.
She admitted, though, that the scooters can be “dangerous and annoying for people who are walking.”
The introduction of this new form of transport caught big Spanish cities off guard. In Madrid, which is home to around 3.2 million people, there are no laws regulating the use of scooters.
Now the municipality plans to introduce a new mobility plan that will include rules for scooters.
Valencia is set to adopt new rules banning scooters from sidewalks.
Barcelona, Spain’s second-largest city which is overwhelmed by mass tourism, already bans the use of privately-owned scooters from sidewalks.
“Self-service” scooter rentals like those offered by Lime are banned.
When German firm Wind launched an electric scooter sharing program in Barcelona in August, within hours police removed the vehicles from the streets.
The municipality of Llobregat near Barcelona stopped Lime from setting up shop.
The scenario was repeated in Valencia, which has an extensive network of bike lanes.
Lime deployed a fleet of scooters in the city in August without authorization from city hall, which demands a license for anyone who carries out a commercial activity on public roads.
Lime’s scooters were removed and the firm was slapped with a fine. It is now trying to convince Valencia city hall to allow it to pay a fee in exchange for an operating license.
Lime’s representative in Spain, Alvaro Salvat, said he regrets the lack of specific laws for electric scooters in Madrid and most Spanish cities.
“We are the first to ask for them for our users, for residents, so we know where to go and where not to go,” he said.
Spanish cities grapple with invasion of electric scooters
Spanish cities grapple with invasion of electric scooters
- In Madrid, public opinion is divided over the hundreds of electric scooters which California-based start-up Lime has made available since mid-August
- The arrival of the scooters in Madrid follows the introduction of a public electric bike share system in June 2014
Some Warren Buffett wisdom on his last day leading Berkshire Hathaway
OMAHA, Nebraska: The advice that legendary investor Warren Buffett offered on investing and life over the years helped earn him legions of followers who eagerly read his annual letters and filled an arena in Omaha every year to listen to him at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meetings.
Buffett’s last day as CEO is Wednesday after six decades of building up the Berkshire conglomerate. He’ll remain chairman, but Greg Abel will take over leadership.
Here’s a collection of some of Buffett’s most famous quotes from over the years:
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“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
That’s how Buffett summed up his investing approach of buying out-of-favor stocks and companies when they were selling for less than he estimated they were worth.
He also urged investors to stick with industries they understand that fall within their “circle of competence” and offered this classic maxim: “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.”
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“After they first obey all rules, I then want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper to be read by their spouses, children and friends with the reporting done by an informed and critical reporter.
“If they follow this test, they need not fear my other message to them: Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.”
That’s the ethical standard Buffett explained to a Congressional committee in 1991 that he would apply as he cleaned up the Wall Street investment firm Salomon Brothers. He has reiterated the newspaper test many times since over the years.
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“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.”
Many companies might do well when times are good and the economy is growing, but Buffett told investors that a crisis always reveals whether businesses are making sound decisions.
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“Who you associate with is just enormously important. Don’t expect that you’ll make every decision right on that. But you are going to have your life progress in the general direction of the people you work with, that you admire, that become your friends.”
Buffett always told young people that they should try to hang out with people who they feel are better than them because that will help improve their lives. He said that’s especially true when choosing a spouse, which might be the most important decision in life.
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“Our unwavering conclusion: never bet against America.”
Buffett has always remained steadfast in his belief in the American capitalist system. He wrote in 2021 that “there has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America. Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking.”
