Rental Scooters vs Owned Scooter 

Oscar Morgan - Bo CEO - November 2025

• You have probably experienced, seen or heard about the ‘on-street’ rental scooters that have spread around the world
• These on-street rentals are convenient, and several large operators now cover most major cities with scooters - provided under license with local authorities.
• The cost of 50~100 rides is equivalent to purchasing your own scooter, which comes with other upsides: it is a much improved experience to the rental rides.

Zero ai: Bo does not use Ai to write, because we believe you’ve come here to speak to humans not Nvidia GPUs. That will mean that some of our language has errors, and we feel that’s a price worth paying. 

2019 - the author, in front of Oslo Opera House (#01 in the Guidebook)

All ten of Oslo’s must-see sites, in three hours flat.

That was my first ever exposure to rental scooters, and to this day it is one of the most dramatic ‘glass shatter’ moments of my life. 

My wife was in a surgery conference in the main meeting hall of the city, and I had a few hours to kill before dinner. Picking up the Oslo guidebook, I found the top 10 list on the inner cover and decided to try and see a couple. 

At that time, on-street rental scooters had not come to the UK - Oslo was an early adopter. The extent of my scooter exposure to that point had been messing around with a Xiaomi and a Segway in the carpark of the Williams F1 factory.

Finally - this was an opportunity to use one 'in anger'. 

Three hours later I looked up - in astonishment - having completed the top 10 list. It was also noticeable to me that the sights of the city were great, but the real fun had been the trips between them. 

The author's steed, also in front of Oslo Opera House

At the time these rental scooters were still quite good value, so even the credit card charge that arrived later wasn’t too troubling. That has since changed - they’re now eye-wateringly expensive as the companies have tried to reach profitability. 

For me, this was the damascene conversion - my crossing of the scooter rubicon. I was a convert, and instantly started trying to understand the landscape to have one of these amazing vehicles for myself. Little did I appreciate that 6 years later I’d be here at the front of a company making them. 

6 years later, with Bo

While millions of people have tried these scooters and had similar - amazing - experiences, it is still surprising how few have made the leap to owning their own version. There are several advantages to doing so - and of course some downsides also. 

To start with the downsides, obviously an on-street vehicle can be dumped in the nearest scooter parking and forgotten about at the end of your journey. It’s not your ride to worry about - and indeed if you pick one up that has a fault then you simply swap onto the next. 

This convenience is superb - but you pay for it! As of my last ride, the unlock was $1 and you were then spending $0.40 / minute. That might sound trivial, but it surprisingly adds up. A ride of 14 blocks cost about $9, which is competitive to an Uber but seriously uncompetitive compared to having your own Bo, where the same ride would cost less than a cent in electricity. 

The rides are getting more expensive...

And that is where you get to the first benefit of ownership - it is just so insanely cheap! Yes, you have to acquire the vehicle, but you still have that vehicle and can sell it - plus the running costs become ~$0.05 per 50 miles. Because they are so efficient, an e-scooter like Bo is the biggest reduction in powered transport cost possible. 

The secondary benefit is ride quality. On-street e-scooters are built with only one aim: vandal protection. While that’s good for the operators, it is terrible for the riders. The outcome is hugely heavy, clunky, chuggy scooters which are no fun to ride or maneouvre. 

Unfortunately this is how on-street scooters have to live

When you design a scooter for ownership, you can assume it is not going to be vandalised every day. Generally people also ride their own vehicles with more respect, and are more likely to carry out basic maintenance to keep it in good order. As such, the vehicle can be optimised for much more exciting and enjoyable attributes than a short term rental. It enables us to focus on beautiful design, comfortable geometry, useful and innovative features - rather than simply how to make it a tough little breeze-block.

Even as a vehicle designer it was almost impossible to imagine the transformation that these details would make to the riding experience - and yet on the far side of this transformation is a truly remarkable life upgrade. What makes it so special is that no single other product in my memory has had such a big impact on my daily quality of life, the improvement from pre-scooter to post-scooter is so dramatic.

At Bo we have never been concerned which brand of scooter we encourage you to buy. Obviously we’d rather it was a Bo, and can’t wait to have you in our rider community - however our main focus is that people experience the benefits of a good, premium, owned scooter. It is such a step up from the trucks that you see lined up on the side of the street.

Bo exists to put the World on Two Wheels, and we hope our vehicles inspire you to try this amazing futuristic new transport.


OJM. 

If you're interested in reading more - Link to Articles 

If you'd like to look at Bo M more closely - Link to Model M 

If you'd like to read about The Turbo Land-speed scooter - Link to Turbo