Diana Ionescu wrote:

Amanda Zhou reports on the success of Seattle’s electric scooter pilot program, which allowed four private companies to operate scooters in the city starting in September 2020. “Over 1.4 million trips were taken by 260,000 riders during the pilot program between September 2020 and October 2021, with the initial fleet size of around 1,500 colorful devices growing to 5,000 citywide, according to a report recently released by the Seattle Department of Transportation.”

Since the program’s launch, “the number of scooter trips has outpaced the number of rides taken using the city’s mixed fleet of pedal and electric bikes, according to SDOT. In September, Seattle saw just under 300,000 scooter trips compared to about 35,000 bike trips.” More than three quarters of riders used scooters for recreational purposes and errands, while almost a quarter said they used scooters as part of their commute. “About one-fifth of respondents said they used scooters to connect to transit and more than half said they would have used a personal vehicle or taxi if the scooters weren’t available.