Portland Bureau of Transportation Ditches Scooter Complaint Process, Requires Companies to Maintain 24/7 Customer Service

The shift is an attempt to “improve response time and put more responsibility onto the companies.”

(Justin Katigbak)
By Elise Herron

Portland Bureau of Transportation is redirecting complaints during the scooter pilot 2.0—which launched last weekend.

This year, rather than file complaints online via PBOT's website, Portlanders with grievances will have to call companies directly.

John Brady, a spokesman for the agency, says the shift is an attempt to "improve response time and put more responsibility onto the companies."

Related: The Portland Bureau of Transportation Creates Scooter Parking Spots—23 of Them

As a stipulation of this year's trial program, local scooter operators are required to maintain a 24/7 customer service line and to respond to complaints in a set time frame.

Brady says that because PBOT officials do not work on weekends or after evening business hours, redirecting complaints to individual companies should lead to faster response times.

"PBOT will be auditing companies' response time to complaints, and all companies are required to report to PBOT on a monthly basis," Brady says. "As part of our evaluation of this second pilot, we will consider how well companies did in responding to customer concerns."

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