a color story: the bikes on the streets

Among the streets of Austin lay bikes and scooters accessible via Uber, Bird, or what have you. With a download of an app and some personal information, one could just hop on one of these transportation devices with a click of a button. I first heard about them through tech news and the exciting investing rounds involved. The “first to the market” or the “market grab competition” lay await for the ‘unicorns’. Of course, I viewed them as overvalued but I wasn’t a venture capitalist — my eyes could only see so far.

At Austin, the scooters served as an escape from their summer weather. At least for me, nothing was worse than walking in the sauna while sweating buckets. Okay. sure. It could be a source of renewable energy (only if the main output sources doesn’t come from gas source). But hey. It's a step forward, no? The electric scooter has more of a kick than you know. Don’t be deceived by its battery. Once, as a walker, I bumped into a scooter rider. We both apologized to each other. The student shouldn’t have scooted on the sidewalks and I felt bad that he bumped into me as he bounced off. The long walk numbed my body already and my open-toed shoes weren’t protecting my toes.

Interesting, I thought it wasn’t a big deal. But, another thought appeared…

Later on, while waiting on the laundry, the neighboring coffee shop accompanied my wait as I stared out their dull glass walls. There was a variety of unfamiliar disco music, indie bands, and jazz playing. The unfamiliarity of the tunes made me appreciate the depth of the musical world. I still heard nothing, maybe just skimming the top of the audio landscape. The guests of the coffee shop were writing in their journals, reading a book, or discussing things without a trace of capitalism — the purity of the topics made it irresistible to eavesdrop. What could they be talking about that could get them so excited?

At first, the sight of the “accessible” bikes didn’t seem to fit the bill. Better yet, the scenario reminded me of Jamie Foxx telling a story about a music night he organized where the celebrity described it as “blackety, black, black” performed and gave Ed Sheeran a time to perform with his crowd. Just in first impressions, one of the musicians confronted Jamie Foxx that his appearance wasn’t “good for the community” but Jamie replied, “let’s see what he got”. As you may know from that story, Ed Sheeran with his Ukulele received an outstanding standing ovation from that crowd — and the rest was history.

So, the second time I saw the bikes the colors were immersed in my coffee shop experience. Green and orange. Then, I looked at the names. Lime and Uber. Woah. I assumed Lime was a bike startup company with some market shares in the bike-sharing space. Where Uber was supposed to be the Orange counterpart. A collaboration or a buyout? I didn’t want to enter the whole world of VC again. So, I didn’t bother googling their relationship. 

Could the colors be representing Austin or just a play on energy? Vitamin C was a symbol of energy — the combination of lime and orange? But, seeing the representation painted on the bike frame still pulled me in an odd or even off-putting way. Maybe the caffeine was doing all the thinking and it sure looked like a guaranteed sugar crash.

Then, my last time at the coffee shop. I noticed that the bikes haven’t been touched all this time. The neighborhood coffee shop served the neighborhood after all. Bikes were probably for the tourist. I felt a false sense of belonging for rejecting the idea of riding on one of these.

Until I rode one.

“All my friends have come to find.” The usual group rode three scooters with a neat accompanying feature via app after our Terry’s dinner. The lack of personal internet was my barrier. The scooter-riding was intuitive — brake and go. After toiling through the hard way, not walking to our destination was a vacation within itself. Going through neighborhoods, hills, and unexplored territories, the electric-driven scooter was our missing fourth musketeer. Giving more than it received, I understood the mass appeal. Maybe I was just sour about my inaccessibility as a tourist. Did I think of myself as a pseudo-local by bottling myself as an anti-tourist? Some food for thought.

The sugar crashed and my mind raced off to the next scooter ride. This time it had more power and for some odd reason, I haven’t made another trip to that coffee shop. Swapping energy for money. Sure why not? The convenience was sure nice.