Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
The newest scooters to come online in Portland are more like small mopeds than real scooters. They are HUGE. The wheels must be 16" in diameter and they even have seats. On our regular Saturday morning walk recently, one of them had been placed carefully on the rumble strip of the wheelchair access ramp of the sidewalk. It would have caused considerable confusion and frustration if my wife (blind) had encountered it without me being there to identify it and make a path around it. A wheelchair user would have had to find another way to access that block. By now every Portlander has had to heave one of these things out of their way at least once in the last year. I'm not even sure if the latest mega-scooters are liftable by anyone lacking a bodybuilding background. I am not at all shocked to learn that they are winding up in rivers.
If they make them big enough, then nobody will be able to heft them over the rails and into the river, or they will all be a few feet away from boat ramps.
Portland was doing their "pilot study" a year ago. Perhaps they need more research.
Are they requiring helmets, and moped/motorcycle licenses?
I wouldn't be surprised if the 3rd generation will REQUIRE pick-up and drop-off at designated docking stations.