There's not like the same excitement over the e-bike as there was for like this app that lets you hail a taxi instantly.

And that's something that I don't wait for Uber to go bankrupt.

I'm your host, Paris Marks, and today I'm speaking with Aaron W. Gordon.

Aaron is a senior staff writer at Motherboard and recently wrote a piece called how Uber turned a promising bike share company into literal garbage.

In the piece, Aaron tells the history of social bicycles, the company that later became jump bikes and was acquired by Uber.

And explains how bike share changed from a small industry where there wasn't a lot of money

to something that venture capitalists were flooding millions and millions and millions of dollars

into to try to monopolize and take control of. I've been following what's been happening with

these micromobility companies for quite a while, so it was really interesting to talk to Aaron,

to hear more about what he found out

while he was talking to the jump employees and to hear what he thinks is the future of micromobility.

And as you might expect, he isn't very positive on what the future might be. Because this is

inherently an industry where there's just not very much money to be made and where

if there is going to be bike share, I think at least it's probably going to have to be a public service.

I've linked to Aaron's piece and to a piece I've written about micromobility in the show notes

so you can take a look at our perspectives.

And remember, if you like this episode, please leave a five-star review on Apple

podcasts and make sure to share it with any friends or colleagues who you think would enjoy the

conversation or, you know, the whole podcast. And if you want to support the work that I put

into the show, the link has changed. You can now support us at patreon.com slash tech won't save us.

Thanks so much and enjoy the conversation. Aaron Gordon, welcome to Tech

Won't Save Us. Thank you for having me. It's fantastic to speak with you today. So obviously I wanted to

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