Seattle puts brakes on shareable electric scooters

SEATTLE  — The shareable electric scooters that have appeared in cities throughout the country won't be coming to Seattle quite yet.

The Seattle Times reports the city has informed all companies operating scooter shares in the U.S. that they can't launch on Seattle streets until the city gets a permit program in place.

Seattle Department of Transportation spokeswoman Karen Westing says a scooter-share program won't be ready until the city firms up a permanent program for the stationless bike-share companies that have been operating in Seattle for nearly a year.

Two of those bike-share companies, LimeBike and Spin, recently launched stationless electric scooters in San Francisco.

They work much the same as bike shares do in Seattle: Find a scooter or bike, unlock it with a smartphone app, ride it where you want to go and leave it in an appropriate spot.

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