Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • The Guardian

    Scoot alors! Will Paris fall in love with the electric scooter?

    One of a handful of e-scooter startups sweeping the US, Lime is now out to conquer Europe, starting with the French capital. A Paris resident takes it for a test ride
    by Katy Lee Jul 09, 2018 6 minutes
    Easy rider? Katy Lee on a Lime e-scooter in Paris. Photograph: Laura Stevens for the Guardian

    Try as I might, I just can’t get behind the idea that riding a scooter is suddenly cool. Phoebe Bridgers, an indisputably hip musician, nearly pulled it off when she scooted around Los Angeles in last summer’s video for her song Motion Sickness, but even then the effect was charmingly dorky. No one, not even someone who is actually cool, can scoot without looking like an oversized child.

    Still, it is 2018 and we all need to face our prejudices. So I headed into Paris to try out the first “free-floating” electric scooters available for hire in Europe, left out on the streets and controlled with a mobile app.

    I have lived in the French capital for three years, mostly navigating it by bike. Now, it is the testing ground for US startups’ grand plans of conquering Europe with a craze that has swept dozens of US cities from Washington DC to San Francisco. To their fans, e-scooters are

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from The Guardian

    The Guardian4 min read
    Lawn And Order: The Evergreen Appeal Of Grass-cutting In Video Games
    Jessica used to come for tea on Tuesdays, and all she wanted to do was cut grass. Every week, we’d click The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker’s miniature disc into my GameCube and she’d ready her sword. Because she was a couple of years younger than m
    The Guardian4 min read
    The Royals May Easily Dismiss Harry And Meghan, But These Charges Of Racism Will Linger For Ever | Zoe Williams
    Omid Scobie is the reporter favoured by Harry and Meghan. In ordinary circumstances, this would be a footnote, but the couple’s relationship with the rest of the press is so frosty that Scobie’s access looks as unfettered as if he were their medieval
    The Guardian6 min read
    Fallen Kingdom: Why Has Disney Had Such A Terrible Year?
    For its 100th anniversary this year, Disney received a bucket of ice-cold water to the face. It may sound momentary, but somehow it’s the gift that has been giving all year, from the box office nosedive of Marvel’s Ant-Man sequel, to lower-than-expec

    Related Books & Audiobooks