This past weekend, the Portland Bureau of Transportation released the “Shared Electric Scooters Permit Application” for e-scooter companies to be able to start operating in the city.

Congratulations to the city of Portland that can now have affordable transportation for locals!

However, although e-scooter companies are now allowed to start their projects in the city, the permit has lots of requirements that the companies must meet.

The city has not put any limitations on the number of companies that can apply to get the permit. However, they must submit everything before the end of this week.

Portland Approves Five E-Scooter Companies

The city informed 5 e-scooter companies about the application and encouraged them to apply. Bird, Spin, Skip, Goat, and LimeBike received invitations to apply.

Once a company gets the approval, their permits will only be effective from July 23 to November 20.

The permits are only valid for four months. This is because the city wants to test out these scooters and see the results.

These are some of the requirements and regulations that the city included in the permit application:

• Fines: The city will charge each company $5,250 just for the application. Once they are approved, they will also need to pay for the 4-month long permit. The companies will also need to sign up as a business.

• Low-income: The companies need to offer lower rates for low-income riders.

• Data: The city should be allowed to have access to the data of each company. Any complaints that are made to the company should also be reported to the city, accidents must be reported to the city as well as the location of each scooter.

• Helmets: The companies are obligated to inform riders that they must wear helmets under the state law. Riders must be 16 years or older to be able to get an e-scooter.

• Balance: The city is requiring companies to distribute the e-scooters throughout the entire city, not just downtown and other busy locations. Places like East Portland are normally not very bike or scooter-friendly since there are no bike lanes for riders.

There are many more requirements that the city has included in the permit application, however, these are some of the important ones. The companies must meet all of the requirements in order to be approved.

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