Electric Scooters With Seats Hit Portland Streets

That brings the total number of e-scooter operators in Portland up to five.

(Shared)
By Elise Herron

Two more companies, Razor and Shared, were permitted to take part in the city's second pilot program today, the Portland Bureau of Transportation announced.

Both companies offer e-scooters with seats for people with disabilities. The seated e-scooters also have larger wheels and wider tires than stand-up scooters.

"We prioritized accessibility in this second Shared Electric Scooter Pilot Program," Transportation Commissioner Chloe Eudaly said in a statement. "There is still a significant amount of work to be done to achieve equity in transportation, but the addition of seated e-scooters to our local fleet opens up this mode of transport to many more Portlanders."

Starting today, California-based Razor is licensed to deploy 525 e-scooters, and Tacoma, Wash.-based Shared is permitted to distribute 200. The companies join operators Bolt, Lime and Spin, which hit city streets in April, and bring the total number of e-scooters in Portland up to 1,975. Razor currently operates in eight other cities. Portland is the first city Shared will launch in.

Related: Seven Scooter Companies Are Headed for Portland, and Hundreds of Devices Could Hit Streets Today

In response to critiques of Portland's preliminary trial program last summer, PBOT required companies applying to this pilot to outline plans for making ridership safer and more equitable.

So far, Lime has launched a program that discounts rides in East Portland by 20 percent and PBOT has installed 23 designated e-scooter parking spots.

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