E-scooter rollout is going just swimmingly in Portland. In addition to pedestrian concerns about the scooters cluttering cities and a substantial number of scooter-related injuries, it seems companies such as Lime, Bird, and Razor have another problem. Their scooters are ending up at the bottom of Portland's Willamette River.
According to a report from The Oregonian newspaper, at least 57 e-scooters and bicycles were recently discovered and removed from the Willamette, which runs through the heart of Portland. Officials have no clues as to why the scooters were scuttled, but it's likely an act of protest against the increasingly popular-yet-annoying method of transportation. Scooters have been thrown in the Pacific Ocean or set on fire in Southern California, and a hacker in Australia loaded the scooters' voice boxes to deliver lewd and racist comments.
"We advise those people not to park scooters in the river," Sgt. Brandon White from the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office joked.
The e-scooters are currently in the midst of their second trail run in Portland. The first was a four-month stint in 2018, and the second recently started in April 2019 for a longer one-year trial. According to The Seattle Times, Portland currently has about 1,975 scooters, short of the 2,500 scooters allowed, available for public use.
According to a report from The Oregonian newspaper, at least 57 e-scooters and bicycles were recently discovered and removed from the Willamette, which runs through the heart of Portland. Officials have no clues as to why the scooters were scuttled, but it's likely an act of protest against the increasingly popular-yet-annoying method of transportation. Scooters have been thrown in the Pacific Ocean or set on fire in Southern California, and a hacker in Australia loaded the scooters' voice boxes to deliver lewd and racist comments.
"We advise those people not to park scooters in the river," Sgt. Brandon White from the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office joked.
The scooters were discovered by accident during a training session for the Multnomah County Sheriff's River Patrol and Dive Team. They showed various levels of decay — some were rusting, while others still had functioning lights. Ironically, had these not been found, the batteries could have been harmful to the river's ecosystem, which runs counter to the green ideology behind the scooters.The team had to quit early because they needed a bigger boat! pic.twitter.com/hyeLP72PlA
— Multnomah Co Sheriff (@MultCoSO) June 26, 2019
The e-scooters are currently in the midst of their second trail run in Portland. The first was a four-month stint in 2018, and the second recently started in April 2019 for a longer one-year trial. According to The Seattle Times, Portland currently has about 1,975 scooters, short of the 2,500 scooters allowed, available for public use.
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