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Portland scooter rides added more than $100,000 to city coffers this year.
Early financial records provided to WW by the Portland Bureau of Transportation reveal that during the four month e-scooter pilot program, the city grossed $188,245.25 from operators Bird, Lime and Skip in application fees, permits, use fees and penalties.
As a stipulation of the program, companies were required to pay a 25 cent surcharge on every e-scooter ride taken. PBOT reports residents took 676,034 total rides in four months. Other rules said that operators must make 90 percent of fleets available and that they must deploy scooters to East Portland. (Skip was fined $9,000 for violating that requirement.)
The city spent money monitoring the scooter pilot. During the four months of the experiment, PBOT also reports spending $86,420.86 on administration, enforcement and evaluation fees.
The agency is still determining whether or not to invite scooters to operate full-time in Portland. Initial data on the pilot program is scheduled to be released next year.
Correction: The totals provided by PBOT were as of Nov. 20, and there may still be costs incurred as the agency conducts post-pilot program analyses and books final expenses. More complete revenues and expenses will be released by PBOT early next year.