The electric scooter boom in the US has been compared to early days of ride-hailing in terms of how it is revolutionizing urban transportation, but the two markets are fundamentally different.

The big difference: E-scooter companies own their scooters and charge rental fees, whereas ride-hail companies don’t own their cars and take a minority cut from driver earnings.

Some cities like San Francisco and Austin are capping the number of scooters allowed on their streets, which would effectively cap revenue. Ride-hail, on the other hand, has a more elastic supply of drivers.

• E-scooter companies strive to make sure scooters are available when and where customers want them. In some ways this is similar to ride-hail, where drivers’ apps have maps showing real-time ride demand levels.
• But it’s also different, in that an e-scooter cannot immediately travel to a customer upon request.
• In some markets like college campuses, there’s usually only room for one player with exclusive rights.