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Assessing Portland's e-scooter pilot program at midway point

Portland's e-scooter pilot program is now halfway over, but city officials say they're still a long way from deciding whether scooters will stay in Portland after the program ends on November 20.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland's e-scooter pilot program is now halfway over, but city officials say they're still a long way from deciding whether scooters will stay in Portland after the program ends on November 20.

Love them or hate them, e-scooters have become a big part of Portland's landscape since their arrival in late July.

“A quarter million rides in seven weeks is a stunning amount of rides,” said Portland Bureau of Transportation spokesman Dylan Rivera.

Rivera said it’s too soon to say what the future holds for e-scooters in Portland — there's two more months left in the city's pilot program before they decide and two more months for riders to prove they can do so responsibly. He did say so far, the city has logged around 1,600 e-scooter complaints from about 600 people.

“The top complaint is concerns that there’s a problem with people not using helmets, followed closely by concerns that people are riding on sidewalks,” said Rivera.

State law prohibits riding scooters on sidewalks or without a helmet and Portland’s city code says you can't ride them in parks. And yet, Rivera admitted, it’s all happening with little to no enforcement.

Rivera said despite those who ignore the rules, many e-scooter riders are showing signs of improvement. For example, in the two weeks after the scooters launched, Rivera said e-scooter data showed most riders downtown were riding on the sidewalks. Now, he says data shows most people are riding them in the bike lanes where they belong. Time will tell if riders will adapt to following the other rules.

“The bottom line is we all need to be respectful no matter how we're moving and what devices we're using," Rivera said.

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