An Electric Scooter Pilot and a Twitter Faux Pas

A public service announcement about safe use of electric scooters turn into a full-fledged controversy last week in Portland.

1 minute read

July 30, 2018, 7:15 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


E-Scooters

Portland Bureau of Transprtation / Shared Electric Scooter Pilot

"Portland transportation officials were red-faced this week after an unnamed staffer disparaged e-scooters as 'toys' for lazy 'tech bros' just as the city’s pilot scooter program went live," according to an article by Angie Schmitt.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation account tweeted the offending comment in response to a resident who "complained the city should be doing more to promote scooters to help achieve climate goal," according to Schmitt. The Twitter thread started out with a public service announcement connected to a newly launched pilot program, which Jonathan Maus reported on earlier this month.

The faux pas also came just days after a ground breaking study found evidence of the popularity of electric scooters among low-income residents and women. The article includes more discussion of the difficult PR battle scooters find themselves waging even as the their products find widespread adoption where they have launched.

Friday, July 27, 2018 in Streetsblog USA

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