The Portland Scooter War Is Underway, as Lime Becomes the Third Company on City Streets

The e-scooter takeover is full steam ahead.

Lime just joined Bird and Skip to become the third company to be issued a permit in the city's pilot program—which will run until November 20.

Lime has been hiring in Portland since March, and put out an ad looking for "juicers," or people to charge scooters overnight, last week.

Related: E-Scooter Company Lime Begins Recruiting Portland "Juicers" to Charge Its Machines Overnight

According to Katherine Mackinnon, a spokesperson for the company, Lime scooters began being distributed around town at 9 am this morning.

"We expect to be fully deployed by midday," Mackinnon tells WW.

Like Bird, Lime scooters cost $1 to unlock and $0.15 per minute to ride. On the Lime app, however, users must preload their account with money, rather than pay as they go.

City rules require that riders wear helmets and avoid scooting or parking haphazardly on sidewalks.

But nobody is tasked with policing those rules.

John Brady, a Portland Bureau of Transportation spokesperson, says there aren't currently personnel dedicated to scooter rule enforcement.

"For now, we are focusing on education when it comes to rules of the road and safe riding," Brady says. "We will be doing some education actions where PBOT staff will be out to talk with riders."