A me-too copycat startup like Spin who got kicked out of Seattle a year ago ( https://www.seattlebikeblog.com/2022/05/13/city-announces-ne... ) doing it this way doesn't seem like a great endorsement to me.
You have to spend $$$ up front on thousands of vehicles that cost hundreds of dollars each, and your marginal revenue per ride ain't great. Putting a dent in your vehicle theft rate becomes a big deal fast.
Given that it's a routine sport in many cities, particularly those with bodies of water, to damage or destroy the scooters, it's imperative to make them as cheap as possible and as easy to repair as possible. Both conflict with stuff like custom boards or barriers to opening them up.
The biggest theft use I see locally these days of the modern Limes and Birds is using the batteries for charging shit at homeless encampments.
But there were a million copycat companies like Spin who launched with off the shelf stuff after Bird and Lime who seemed to copy the "light money on fire theft-wise" problems of off the shelf stuff.
Okay, I'm German, so no idea about homeless encampments because we simply don't have these in large scale, but how does that even work? Like okay, you rip out the batteries, but then what? You'd still need some sort of voltage regulator just to power a device, and that hasn't even included recharging the batteries.
I've no idea about those scooters, but I won't be surprised if it's all behind some plastic panel held by few screws.
