This Friday, Lime scooters will roll out on the streets of Everett, Wash., a city 28 miles north of Seattle.
Everett is launching a three-month scooter-share pilot starting with 100 Lime scooters.
Two other cities in Washington — Tacoma and Spokane — are also piloting scooter-share. The state’s biggest city, Seattle, has been slower to adopt the new mobility service but that may be changing.
Last week, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced plans to launch a scooter-share pilot in Seattle if the companies that provide the service meet certain conditions. Scooter-share operators, like Lime and Bird, will have to agree to four terms before the pilot launches. The city’s non-negotiables center on “equity and accessibility, fairness to riders, safety and indemnification.”
Safety is particularly key for the city. The Centers for Disease Control, at the request of health and transportation departments in Austin, Texas, released a study this month on e-scooter injuries. A chilling compilation of scooter injuries published this week shows the downside of this new mobility service.
But there are upsides too. Micro-mobility services are greener and help people get around congested cities like Seattle.
Lime’s head of Northwest development, Jonathan Hopkins, said the company is “excited to lead the charge to help provide Everett residents and visitors more affordable and equitable mobility options,” in a statement.
