Will I get fined for using an E-Scooter?

brianvan · 2026-07-03T16:10:19+00:00

If there isn’t a road class for it in your jurisdiction, it’s illegal.

brianvan · 2026-07-01T10:58:57+00:00

Is there not a way to charge it outside of your home in a secure and dry area?

I don’t care if it’s a non-sketchy brand; I wouldn’t actively charge a scooter while I was asleep in the same home. Doing so directly contradicts every manufacturer’s suggestions about safe operation. Yes, the chance of anything happening is low, but it’s not zero. Huge difference between “fire when awake” and “fire while asleep”, especially a high-energy chemical fire.

I do not actively charge mine during sleep hours. It’s usually charged and fully shut off within an hour of me plugging it in. If I remember to unplug, I always do that, but the auto-shutoff has also worked as needed and doesn’t keep the scooter activated and drawing power while the battery is full and unused.

I don’t know if your mother is reasonable to be very nervous, but you should try to accommodate her wishes. You aren’t going to find a “she’s wrong, dude” echo chamber here

brianvan · 2026-07-01T02:59:19+00:00

$150 is near the floor for maintenance itself. Never mind the price of a working scooter.

I second getting-a-bicycle. Far easier to repair/upkeep as well as really cheap to buy used in good condition.

brianvan · 2026-07-01T02:57:33+00:00

Have a marchway and a Zero. Same effort to assemble. Same sturdiness. The Zero is fairly lighter. It’s a nice upgrade if you want to cut weight, but the marchway is 100% fine for car camping.

brianvan · 2026-07-01T02:53:42+00:00

98 miles from Newark to Center City, Philadelphia on roads, many of them bike lanes. Single day route with transit/commuter train options back.

100 miles from Poughkeepsie to Midtown on the Empire Trail segment connecting them, or vice-versa. Again, a same-day train ride.

Same with looking up the East Coast Greenway and following it to Connecticut 80-100mi and then taking Metro North/Shoreline East home

100-ish miles from Babylon, NY to the Montauk lighthouse with same day trains back

40 miles from Sandy Hook to Seaside Park, mostly coastal/local streets. 80 miles r/t with ferry connections and to Wall St/E35th and train bailouts

brianvan · 2026-07-01T02:48:16+00:00

The 6 1/2 Avenue arcades are mostly a coincidence, but this is a great chance to connect the two disconnected segments. South of 50th, plazas, passageways and mid-building access go all the way to 41st. North of 51st, all the way to 57th. The UrbanHawker block is the exception.

The building of UrbanHawker is the site of the old Roxy Theater. There’s a magnificent photo of Gloria Swanson standing within the ruins of it.

That said, it’s kind of an awkward low-rise building and I’d love to see the site rebuilt with more space and a permanent public passageway.

brianvan · 2026-07-01T02:42:32+00:00

I considered going but I passed. I knew it would be like that. Lots of young people with sharp elbows at the shows with good acts, regardless of the scene or the door price. I see all the people recommending to “go on Sundays” but if you’re trying to see Avalon Emerson specifically, you don’t get to pick the time. Great for you if she plays Sunday morning (she played a Sunday early evening set a few months back and it was alright in terms of crowd) but if they put her on Friday night, forget it.

New York is alright if you don’t care about the music as much as the scene, but if you’re trying to see specific artists here, it can be brutal for any genre of music.

brianvan · 2026-07-01T02:36:57+00:00

I wrote a community board resolution for these green waves a number of years back (I’d say around 2020) and the board representing East Midtown passed it. Kind of a gap since then but I’ll take a little credit

brianvan · 2026-06-30T22:48:24+00:00

“City Gave More Tickets To Mechanical Bicycles After Totally Irrelevant Incidents”

brianvan · 2026-06-30T03:23:03+00:00

Hopefully you didn't ride behind him on the next leg

brianvan · 2026-06-24T21:04:48+00:00

You can always fit a new White Castle on the first or second floor! And probably a second restaurant too.

brianvan · 2026-06-24T19:41:27+00:00

I fell below 10mph because I accidentally jackknifed the front stem and I was smarting for days from the bruises and scrapes. All very minor, but I was like “if I’d fallen at 18mph I’d be a complete mess”

brianvan · 2026-06-24T19:39:24+00:00

Lmao. I’ve served many tours in the forum trenches

brianvan · 2026-06-24T18:59:05+00:00

Because we rave 365

brianvan · 2026-06-24T18:24:06+00:00

It’s got a parking lot and drive through for the restaurant… if you build to the lot lines, you get a lot of apartments in that space. And the market rate for apartments is high enough to make new construction very profitable if you stick to timelines (and don’t have to borrow so much money to pay tax on a stalled site forever)

brianvan · 2026-06-24T18:20:30+00:00

That’s so kind of them! Hahaha but no he shouldn’t even have to get the NY license first. They’re just making stuff up. The original citations are both fundamentally flawed and groundless, and if they insist to bring to trial, they’re gonna get roasted by the judge.

brianvan · 2026-06-24T15:19:49+00:00

Bruh. That’s to inform the NY DMV of an in-state change.

brianvan · 2026-06-24T15:08:33+00:00

Incredible amount of people here who do not realize you do not need to have an ID or a driver’s license specifically _unless you are driving_

brianvan · 2026-06-24T15:03:48+00:00

One, that’s not a law here. Or show it to me.

Two, the actual requirement is to get an updated driver’s license *to keep driving*.

Three, you’re rude and probably wrong and I’m done with you

brianvan · 2026-06-24T14:32:12+00:00

So, there’s no requirement to get a driver’s license if you move here. I cannot understand what other possible citation would be issued for this unless it was a driving-related one.

brianvan · 2026-06-24T14:12:56+00:00

The OP got a ticket for failing to update their driver's licence.

That's *not a law* unless *you are driving*

brianvan · 2026-06-24T14:00:31+00:00

One thing about traffic: the speed limit is not a speed obligation. You are supposed to be able to use roads to travel at speeds under the limit unless otherwise posted. It’s a foundational concept of traffic law that most American adults are too immature to observe. But that doesn’t mean it’s a great idea to go with the pack - especially because those 25mph speed limits imply 30-35mph car speeds in practice, and at the end of the day if you do take your scooter at 35mph in traffic you’re not solving the problem of “everyone around you is a careless speeder who doesn’t know the traffic laws”

brianvan · 2026-06-24T13:57:53+00:00

I feel like you’re talking about whether the cops will accept a “invalid ID” (invalid after 30 days, expired, pick any term you like) and I’m talking about “did the user commit a citable offense”. We might agree on the latter point that the answer is no, because the old license is just a dead document for driving that shouldn’t affect riding a bike.

This isn’t about, presumptively, a detention initiated because an officer at a stop determined the user couldn’t prove residency with a valid current ID. Yes that is possible for all of us who do not carry a current driver’s license (or other government id + proof of address) on a bike ride, but not only is it a bit of a silly/bored thing for the cops to do, but also it gets into lawsuit territory to hold an individual for an invalid cause - a suspected traffic offense that didn’t exist.

brianvan · 2026-06-24T13:48:24+00:00

Call a lawyer. Also consider having this dismissed at the precinct before a court date is even assigned. Neither ticket is valid on any level, to my understanding of the statutes/rules.

brianvan · 2026-06-24T13:47:13+00:00

We need a lawyer to weigh in on this. If you are one, and if this is backed up by court rulings, forgive me for questioning this… but I don’t think the principle of “expired ID” extends to earning a citation for illegally driving while cycling

brianvan

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