PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — E-scooters are back on the streets in Portland and according to Portland State University researcher Jennifer Dill, mostly men are hopping on.
Dill looked at numbers from the first e-scooter pilot in Portland from July to November 2018 and found that 64% of riders were men and only 34% were women.
Dill has a theory that women are more comfortable riding scooters on sidewalks because they’re safely away from cars. Scooters are not allowed on sidewalks in Portland.
She has the same theory about women cyclists and found a similar significant “gender gap” among cyclists. Her research on cyclists found men outnumber women two or three to one.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation’s survey also asked how often riders would be likely to use scooters again and more men said they’d use them more often than women.
Dill’s analysis shows 54% of women said a safe place to ride would increase their use and only 46% of men said the same.
PSU’s Transportation Research and Education Center plans to survey pedestrians in the spring to understand scooter problems and work with PBOT on best practices.
“If we want e-scooters to be a mobility option for everyone, we need to be thinking about providing safe and comfortable places to ride,” Dill wrote.
