PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) — Portland reported more than 2.1 million “micromobility trips” in 2025, according to the city’s Bureau of Transportation. That includes any rented bike, electric bike, or electric scooter through city regulated platforms like Biketown or Lime.
While e-scooters and e-bikes have become a popular way to get around the city, state data shows a rise in accidents involving cars and these devices, some of them fatal.
Fatal collision highlights safety concerns
This past October, 41-year-old Portlander Alicia Long was riding a Lime electric scooter to her home in North Portland. Her mother said she was returning from visiting her ex-husband, who was experiencing a minor medical emergency.
At 1:45 a.m., on Oct. 22, Portland police said two officers who were out on patrol witnessed Long drive through the intersection of Weidler Street and North Vancouver Avenue, colliding with a car. She traveled through the intersection heading westbound when the southbound car, which had a green light, hit her. Police said she was not wearing a helmet.
Long was quickly rushed to the hospital. Long’s mother, Jeannie Alikin, remembered that tragic night.
“When I got to the hospital, they stopped me before I went in the room and said, your daughter is nonresponsive. And I said, ‘it doesn’t matter to me, I’m going in.’ And so she was nonresponsive from the moment I saw her. And it was heart wrenching,” Alikin said.
Alikin said her daughter had suffered extensive damage to her brainstem, and even after multiple procedures, doctors said her condition wasn’t improving. A day and a half later, Long died at the hospital. An organ donor, Long saved multiple lives. Something her mother said reflects her daughter’s selflessness.
“So that’s Alicia, ‘I’m going to do good by everybody.’ It didn’t matter who you were: if you were a bird with a broken wing, she was going to carry you,” Alikin said. “I was touched at her funeral. There must have been 150 people there. I had no idea that she touched so many people’s lives.”
Alikin knows how popular it has become on Portland’s streets to travel by e-scooters or e-bikes. She hopes by sharing her daughter’s story, she can raise awareness about simple safety precautions that could be a difference between life and death.
“Not that it would have, but had she had a helmet on, maybe (there could have been a different outcome),” Alikin said. “She’s an adult. She took that risk. I suppose it’s hard to enforce it.”
Alikin also has concerns about scooter riders not being in control due to the speed of the devices.
“If there was something that they could do to figure out a way to slow them down, for one, they go way too fast,” Alikin said.
City oversight and safety measures
The Portland Bureau of Transportation currently contracts with two e-scooter providers, Lime and Biketown, for the city’s e-scooter share program. Biketown also provides a bike share program where e-bikes and regular bikes are available.
A PBOT spokesperson said having just these two contracted providers allows the city to require strong consumer protections, safety measures and data tracking. PBOT frequently promotes safety messaging on its e-scooter and e-bike share, including the importance of always wearing helmets, requiring e-scooter renters to be at least 18, e-bike renters 16, and “slow zone” areas where e-scooters automatically slow down.
PBOT data from recent years shows the number of e-scooter rides booked in Portland have exceeded 1 million rides per year, with a high of 1.6 million in 2025. For Biketown bike trips, that number was around 455,000 in 2025.
But as the growth in ridership increases, so have crashes. The latest data from the Oregon Department of Transportation shows a steady increase statewide in both e-scooter and e-bike crashes. E-Scooter crashes began to be tracked in 2020, e-bikes in 2022.
E-Scooter Crashes Statewide by Year According to ODOT
2020: 32021: 72022: 182023: 282024: 42
E-Bike Crashes Statewide by year According to ODOT
Industry perspective on safety
Brad Davis is the owner of Nomad Cycles in Portland, a shop specializing in e-bikes. He’s watched the popularity of e-bikes and e-scooters skyrocket over the last decade, and said while these devices are fun and convenient, extra precaution is absolutely necessary.
“I think it’s important to normalize training and taking things seriously,” Davis said. “You know, putting somebody on a machine that can go 20 miles an hour, without them being an athlete, and having an experience on the road, that could lead to something.”
Nomad Cycles is one of several dozen Portland bike shops participating in the city’s E-Bike Rebate Program, a program launching this spring funded by the Portland Clean Energy Fund, that gives $1,600 vouchers to purchase e-bikes at participating retailers. Applicants must live in Portland and have a household income at or below 60% of area median income. Davis hopes programs like these can continue to make Portland a more friendly environment to micromobility devices like e-scooters and e-bikes.
“I really would like to see the attitude change from like competing for use of the road to sharing the road,” Davis said.
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