New app shows you all the e-scooters nearby in one handy map
Bird, Lime, Spin, Jump, Lyft. The list goes on — these are the many electric scooter options you can rent in various cities throughout the U.S. For each company offering rentals to ride the electric two-wheelers, there's an accompanying app with its own map showing where (just) its scooters are located.
And then there's Scooter Map, first created last year to help contract workers known as "chargers" find scooters they would bring home to charge up in return for a payment. Site creator Victor Pontis said in an email that his map has connected 60,000 chargers to scooters that need more juice.
As of Wednesday, the app can now tell not only chargers but also riders the location of nearby scooters, all on one map. The map also shows battery level and which company the scooter is from. A toggle on the map switches it from "rider" to "charger" mode.
The map app combines a lot of options, which is an approach that ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft are also using, and adding more transit options to the platform. Now through the Uber app you can order a car like usual, or rent an e-bicycle or e-scooter. Uber's CEO said last year he wants the company to be the "Amazon of transportation." Lyft offers a similar one-app system where it has scooters and bikes available. But each still only shows its own products available for rent.
Google Maps has attempted to incorporate the efficiency of Scooter Map with its Lime e-scooter integration. Within the navigation app you can see where Lime vehicles are available and start the mobile process of reserving and unlocking the device. But again, this is limited to one scooter company; you can't see other options.
The Scooter Map app is free to download, and you won't find any ads splashed above the map or anything, but Pontis does offer a premium version for chargers. For $10 per month, chargers can get notifications, GPS history, and access to an online charger community.
With Scooter Map instead of a whole folder on your phone devoted to countless apps, you can finally see them all in one place.
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
