City survey asks: What would make you use Biketown and e-scooters more?

The City of Portland wants to talk about its bike share and e-scooter rental program. 10 years after the Nike-sponsored Biketown system launched to much fanfare, the Portland Bureau of Transportation has grown its fleet of orange bikes into a relatively reliable form of transportation for thousands of people. Today there are roughly 3,000 bikes and scooters available as part of the “Shared Micromobility” program for rent in a service area that touches nearly every square mile of the city.

Now PBOT says they are, “thinking through new ways to shape the future of e-bike share and e-scooter share,” and they want to benefit from your opinion. Today the bureau launched a Shared Micromobility long-term planning survey. If my memory serves, this is the first time they’ve conducted such a survey. I haven’t heard any rumors about big changes afoot, so I can only assume this is being done so PBOT can keep their finger on the pulse of folks who use the system. I also feel like these systems are pretty static at the moment and if everything stays the same ridership will likely stay flat and the fleet of scooters and bikes will become even more outdated and in need of a refresh.

That’s why I believe the one thing on the horizon that could have a major influence on the future of this program is funding. From what I can tell, the current system is starved for cash. The older model “Watson” bikes (the orange ones) are woefully outdated and a majority of them have batteries in dire need of replacement. Ideally the entire fleet would be replaced with the newer, “Cosmo” models (the grey ones), but that would require a big investment. The system also needs a lot more bikes in order to meet its vast potential as a true public transit system.

With PBOT in such a dire budget situation and the political capital necessary for more public funding of Biketown, the only bright spot for Biketown investment is the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF). PCEF has already funded Biketown’s low-income program and in their latest annual revision of the PCEF Climate Investment Plan, the City of Portland has made it even easier for Biketown to win grants through this program. Among the changes to the CIP that’s under consideration by Portland City Council this month, PCEF will add “Biketown infrastructure fleet addition” as an eligible use of funds.

If we expect councilors and the City of Portland to continue to support and invest in bike and scooter share, it’s important they hear what folks think about the system. Which brings me back to the purpose of this post: to encourage you to take the survey.

I took the survey this morning. It was very quick and the questions were straightforward. Take the survey here.