As quickly as they slipped silently into parts of Bangkok and Chiang Mai about six months ago, Singaporean mobility startup Neuron’s e-scooters are gone.

The scooters, which had become a common sight between the Thong Lor and Phrom Phong areas as well as several university campuses, cannot be found now except for a few at Thammasat University’s Rangsit campus. Loading its app presents a vague message about “pausing our operations” that seems ripped from the pages of great PR euphemisms.

“We have spent the past year developing the world’s first electric scooter designed for mass sharing, the Neuron N3,” it reads. “As we enter the final stretch for its launch, we will be pausing our operations in Bangkok CBD and Thong Lor.”

Something Borrowed, Something New: Electric scooters zip into Bangkok

It said users who had paid for ongoing paid passes would get an email about obtaining refunds.

Messages sent to Neuron Mobility seeking comment Tuesday went unreturned as of publication time.

Neuron Mobility had raised a reported US$3.7 million in December 2018 for the express purpose of expansion and developing next-gen scooters. No reference to the withdrawal-slash-suspension could be found on its site, where its Bangkok information page still lists rates.

Once hailed as a personal mobility revolution after making inroads in western cities, e-scooters and other devices have faced setbacks. Singapore earlier this month banned them from all sidewalks, effectively rendering them useless as they were already forbidden from roadways.

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