Based on a study by Auto Insurance Center, the average American spends an average of 42 hours in traffic every year. That’s a lot of time wasted and it’s exhausting even to just imagine the boredom and the stress of sitting inside the car while waiting. Regardless, amidst the challenges in traffic, people continue to migrate to Oregon, within which, the population increased in years 2017-2018.
If you’re one of those new implants who have chosen to move to Portland, Oregon then it’s highly suggested you check out Princeton Property Management. Servicing Portland and surrounding areas, Princeton Property provide a responsive and excellent service for tenants and their properties are located only a short scooter ride from many great parts of town.
Only a couple years ago, Bird, Lime and Spin scooters flooded the streets of Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco, and are now coming to Portland, Oregon which is great news since Portland drivers spend 50 hours sitting in traffic. These companies believe that E-scooters are the next generation of green technology to take over our streets and while the responses aren’t really that positive in other cities, Portland is taking things positively as discussed in the TREC Friday Seminar (The Portland E-Scooter Experience) by the Bureau of Transportation in Portland State University.
About the Companies:
Bird: Started in 2017, this company is based in Santa Monica and founded by Travis VanderZanden who was the former chief officer of Lyft. Raising $115 million from their investors, Bird has launched its services in September just outside Los Angeles and was incorporated to over 100 cities and facilitating more than 10 million rides.
Lime: A dock-less bike and scooter company that started in 2017 with 500 bicycles. Based in San Francisco, it operates in many cities across the US including Washington D.C., Austin, Texas and is the first company to operate in Portland. Lime has recently partnered with Segway and Uber to better enhance their electric scooters to provide consumers longer lasting yet stylish scooters.
Spin: A company very similar to Lime, it was founded in 2016 as Skinny Labs Inc. It currently operates in dozens of cities and schools thanks to their initial success in Seattle. Spin was recently acquired by the Ford Motor Company so innovations are expected.
Now that you’ve got an initial idea about these 3 top e-scooter companies, you might be wondering how they work, how they get charged, whether they’re safe, and if they are useful enough to stay in our streets.
Powered by electric motors, E-scooters are managed by smartphone apps where you can see the map and available scooters nearby. Features and services offered may differ from each different company but in general, customers will need to download an app provided by the e-scooter company and scan a QR code to unlock your ride, otherwise, customers can simply text a number to unlock the device. Once done with your trip, you merely park the scooter in the services area and go on to your destination.
You can start riding an electric scooter for $1 and then 15 cents a minute thereafter, which is fairly cheap. To give you a better idea, a 2-mile ride takes around 10 minutes which costs less than $3. Once you’ve arrived, you simply leave the scooter in a public space where it doesn’t block traffic. Easy right?!
In regards to safety, E-scooter injuries accounted for 5 percent of the total traffic crash injuries with zero fatalities during the e-scooter pilot period. While injuries are a definite issue, it’s not nearly as bad as some initial reports seemed to indicate.
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