How’s the e-scooter launch going?

(In case you haven’t noticed, BikePortland has been in vacation mode since last Friday and will continue to be until middle of next week. That means I’ve been out-of-the-loop on the e-scooter launch (and other things) and I’m up late posting while everyone else is asleep.)

How’s the e-scooter launch going so far Portland?

All I’ve heard so far is that someone at PBOT made a very poor decision about a Twitter post and that the Willamette Week is looking to cover how annoying and dangerous they expect the scooters to be. Oh, and it looks like our friends at TriMet are big fans.

I’ve been a believer in these things since the beginning, so I’m eager to see how it’s all shaking out once I get home next week.

I realize so far just two companies — Bird and Skip — have been given the green light and that both of them have yet to activate their full fleets. A third company, Lime, will also join the fun on Friday. The pilot program will have up to 2,500 scooters on the street at any one time, so I don’t think we’ll be able to judge their impact until they are all up and running.

Even so, I’m curious! What’s the vibe so far? Has the sky fallen? Is Portland ruined forever? Or are scooters the street saviors I hope they’ll be? Would love to hear your thoughts and updates from the streets.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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