Electronic shareable scooters are all the rage now. Where I live in Portland, you see them everywhere, nicely organized in a row on the sidewalk, ostentatiously placed in improbable places and, sometimes, being thrown in the river. (Stay classy Portland.)
![](https://i1.wp.com/smartphonefreelife.com/wp-content/uploads/escooter.jpg?fit=678%2C1024&ssl=1)
The purpose behind e-scooters is easily told: Short trips in urban areas. Need to get across downtown, but the bus isn’t going your way, and don’t want to mess with parking? Jump on an e-scooter. With no docks required, you just find one wherever you are, and drop one off wherever you are.
I’m a huge advocate for public transit, and so these private transportation companies don’t really do much for me. I don’t see these services as complementing transit service, I see them as cannibalizing them. And it’s all but guaranteed that their labor practices are punitive.
That said, I’ve been moderately interested in trying one of these things out.
However, the fundamentals of this service, like so many services made in the last few years consists of one phrase: “just use the app!”
Well, I don’t want to use the app.
I have a debit card, I have means, and I want to rent a scooter. I don’t want to ask permission from an app store.
The question is: can someone who wants to rent an e-scooter in this town do it without a smartphone?
Let’s see.
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