- Have you ever spent an
hour in traffic just trying
to go 12 blocks?
Or spent 20 minutes driving somewhere
and then twice as long
looking for a place to park?
The people who study this stuff call it
the last mile problem, and it turns out
it's this fascinating
transportation issue.
It matters to delivery companies,
and shipping companies,
and city planners, and
really to me personally
because my train drops me
off 1.6 miles from my office
and I desperately need a better way
to get there than walking.
That's what all these
weird looking vehicles
are trying to solve.
These are all wildly different devices,
and there are more besides them,
but they all exist, at least in part,
to make getting from point
A to point B more fun
and much faster.
To test them out, we've
set up a course here
in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
The idea is to find which
one of these is the easiest
to learn and the most fun to ride,
and, ideally, the one that
gets you where you're going.
Bonus points if it doesn't
make you look like a doofus
in the process, but I
don't like my chances.
First up, the Boosted
Rev electric scooter.
The electric scooter has become
sort of the default device
for this kind of short travel.
It's definitely the
easiest to learn and ride,
which is why you see tons of
them all over city streets now.
This one is sturdy and durable,
and a really fun ride.
The biggest downside of the Rev, though,
is it's just so big.
It weighs 46 pounds,
and you're not stashing
this thing underneath anything.
You'll end up treating it more like a bike
than some super portable accessory.
Boosted's other product,
the Boosted Board was one
of the first popular last mile gadgets,
and for good reason.
Using this hand-held throttle,
you can control your speed pretty easily,
and it's much easier to carry around.
I'm less sold on electric skateboards
for most people, though.
They take some time to learn,
and you'll never wanna take
this thing on rough roads
or even hit a pothole.
The Boosted Boards and this
Onewheel Pint are much more
like the size that I'm looking for.
I can throw it over my shoulder in a bag
or just carry it in one hand.
And because it's so small,
once you're comfortable riding it,
the Pint gives you this
really tight control
as you move around.
But it takes a while
to get comfortable on.
You can't just grab one and go.
It's more like a whole day of work before
you'll feel good on the road.
The biggest downside of the Pint, though,
is the range.
To me, at minimum, one
of these devices needs
to go 10 miles on a charge.
That's your short commute
stuff plus a couple
of meetings and maybe a ride to lunch.
The Pint's range is more like six,
which means it's barely just
getting through my commute.
Next up, let's try the weirdest thing
I've tested by a mile.
These are the Jetson Motokicks,
and they're actually the cheapest
and lightest thing I've been testing.
They're also, I think, the
least cool looking by far.
And they're really slow.
Like, you might get
passed by a particularly
brisk power walker.
But I like that I can stash them in a bag
or carry them around, and
they're pretty fun to ride
once you get the hang of
the self-balancing thing.
Next up, the Ninebot
S from Ninebot Segway.
Segway's everywhere in this space.
I mean the original Segway was
about solving the Last Mile problem.
This Ninebot S is a pretty smooth
and easy device to learn.
You just have to remember
to steer with your knees
and not wobble too much.
Truthfully, I think this
one just looks too silly
for most people, but it really is one
of my favorites to ride around.
The tricky thing about
these devices is that
which one you should get really depends
on what you feel comfortable with,
and even how you get around
and what your city is like.
For me, personally, I really
like the Onewheel Pint.
I care a lot about having something light
and easy to stow away,
and I don't mind the work
of getting used to riding something.
But for most people, the easiest to learn,
least sweat required, still
kinda sorta portable option
is gonna be the Boosted Rev or
some other electric scooter.
These scooters, frankly,
make us all look kind
of ridiculous, but they might be the best
last mile option we have.
(lively music)
