The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) in Portland, Ore., has entered into new partnerships to make shared e-scooters a permanent part of the city's transportation environment, with more options and more accessible service.
PBOT awarded multiyear contracts to both Lyft and Lime to provide up to 3,500 e-scooters combined among the two companies. The public-private partnership will require the companies to deploy scooters across the city each day to ensure community members are able to connect to their destinations.
As a part of the contract, PBOT will require Lyft and Lime to provide scooters with seats, a feature that makes them more accessible for people who may not be comfortable riding conventional scooters that require a standing position. The contract also requires the availability of discounts by the companies for people living on low incomes. Discounts are available through the Lime Access and BIKETOWN's Community Pass programs.
“Portlanders have long embraced biking, walking and public transit and since the end of the pandemic we have seen them embrace shared e-bikes and shared e-scooters at record levels,” said PBOT Director Millicent Williams. "We’re supporting these sustainable transportation options with our growing network of over 400 miles of bikeways and by committing to a permanent program for shared e-scooter service. The public-private partnership that PBOT staff created will make e-scooters more accessible to more Portlanders, while also showing cities across the nation that sustainable transportation can be good business."
