Where the numbers come from
Shared cost is the unlock fee plus the per-minute rate times your trip length. Ownership amortises the purchase over the life you set and adds upkeep and electricity. Nothing is rounded in your favour.
Rent vs own
At what point should you just buy one?
Shared scooters are excellent for one trip and expensive as a habit. This finds the crossover, in weeks, at your actual usage.
How you ride
Shared scooter pricing
That is $5.29 a trip, or $2.94 a mile. Per-minute pricing punishes traffic lights, so the same route can cost noticeably more at rush hour than at nine in the evening.
Daily rental
Owning one
Buying pays for itself in17weeks versus the app
- Shared app
- $42.32/wk
- Daily rental
- $90.00/wk
- Owning, running cost
- $2.36/wk
- Versus daily rental
- 8 weeks
- Owned cost per mile
- $0.38
Cost for a full year
Owning one$285.30
Shared scooter app$2,200.64
Daily rental$4,680.00
Ownership figures amortise the purchase over 4 years. Three things the arithmetic cannot price: shared scooters need no storage and no theft risk, a rental counter carries the repair burden, and an owned scooter is there at two in the morning when the app shows nothing within a mile.
What it cannot price
Storage, theft risk and who carries the repair burden. A shared scooter needs no hallway and no lock; an owned one is there at two in the morning when the app shows nothing within a mile.