In San Francisco, a citywide service for sharing electric scooters

Scoot is a brand-new effort about to launch in San Francisco that will make electric scooters available to the public for a monthly or occasional fee.

It was 2007 when we first covered Paris’s Vélib’ bike-sharing initiative, and since then the vehicle-sharing concept has spread around the globe, not just for bicycles but for cars as well. The latest spotting? Scoot, a brand-new effort about to launch in San Francisco that will make electric scooters available to anyone for a monthly or occasional fee. Currently in closed alpha testing, Scoot will operate on a model much like Zipcar’s, according to a recent report on Co.Exist. A smartphone app will enable users to not only to find a scooter nearby, but also to reserve it and then unlock it — on each scooter is a spot in which to dock a smartphone and doing so is what enables the vehicle to run. Once on the road, the phone displays a map along with other data. With a maximum speed of 30 mph and a range of 20 to 30 miles, Scoot’s scooters will charge when returned to their “home” parking spots. Pricing will be around USD 5 per hour for a trip, with monthly deals for heavy users, according to a report on USA Today. Helmets and insurance will be included. Scoot is reportedly targeting corporate clients with the service initially, with plans to expand afterwards to public transit stops and then a citywide presence. Twenty networked scooters are scheduled to be deployed by April, Co.Exist reports, but ultimately Scoot hopes to expand to other cities as well. Green-minded entrepreneurs: one to get involved in? Spotted by: Murtaza Patel