Another E-Scooter Company Has Dropped Out of Portland’s Pilot Program

Shared will soon removed its seated scooters from Portland streets.

September 20, 2019 | Climate Strike | Portland, OR. (Justin Katigbak) Youth, students, teachers, and parents marched the streets of Portland, OR in a national day of action against Climate Change.
By Shannon Gormley

Those clunky, red-and-white, sit-down scooters are about to disappear from Portland streets.

On Saturday, e-scooter company Shared notified city officials that it will no longer participate in Portland's pilot program, The Oregonian first reported. That leaves Bird, Lime, Spin and Razor, which also makes seated devices, in the program.

In an email, Shared CEO Braydon Butungbacal wrote that the Tacoma start-up is pulling its scooter from Portland's streets "due to extreme difficulty in further fundraising to support the venture to continue to grow it."

Portland is the first and only city where Shared launched scooters. The company joined Portland's second e-scooter pilot program last June, deploying a fleet of 200 seated scooters.

In December, Portland Bureau of Transportation extended its e-scooter pilot to the end of 2020, and Florida-based company Bolt suddenly pulled its scooters from the program.

Due to criticisms of the first pilot program in 2018, PBOT required companies participating in the second round to outline equity and safety plans. Shared's scooters, with their chunk wheels, front suspension and cushioned seats, promised accessibility to a wider ranger of riders.

Without Shared and Bolt out of the picture, Portland still has over more than two thousand e-scooters on its streets, most of which belong to industry giants.

Related: Study Finds E-Scooters On Average Produce More Emissions Per Mile Than Buses With High Ridership

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