People ride e-scooters in Melbourne's central business district on August 14, 2024. Melbourne has become the latest city to announce a ban on rental e-scooters.
In the realm of transportation, rented e-scooters are undoubtedly one of the most controversial options currently available.
These micromobility vehicles have proliferated on major city streets worldwide in recent years, often celebrated for their efficiency and eco-friendliness as a mode of transportation.
The rise of rented e-scooters has sparked significant debate, with their presence on city streets leading to increased calls for stricter regulations due to a surge in accidents and complaints about disorder on sidewalks and roads.
In Melbourne, Australia, officials have decided to take drastic action by banning e-scooter rentals entirely. This decision comes after hundreds of complaints and accident reports raised serious safety concerns.
On Tuesday, Melbourne’s city council voted to terminate contracts with its two e-scooter operators, Lime and Neuron, and issued a 30-day notice for them to remove their vehicles.
“This was an opportunity to end the chaos on Melbourne’s footpaths and restore safety to our city,” Melbourne Mayor Nicolas Reece said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Residents, traders, and visitors have been urging us to end the trial to make our city safer.”
Melbourne's experiment with e-scooters began in 2022 with a two-year trial launched by the Victoria state government, which promoted them as an “accessible, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective” transportation option.
According to the city's “ride report,” there were an average of 7,800 daily trips on micromobility vehicles, including 6,800 on e-scooters, in recent years. The trial also contributed to reducing the city’s carbon emissions by over 400 tons in the past two and a half years.
However, this new transportation mode has also led to a rise in accidents and injuries. A report from the Royal Melbourne Hospital in December 2023 documented 256 e-scooter-related injuries, including a fatal crash, and called for enhanced safety measures. E-scooters, often available for hire without a license, can reach speeds of up to 25 kilometers per hour.
The decision to ban e-scooters has sparked a potential conflict between local and state officials. On Wednesday, Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan indicated that the state might intervene, suggesting that the debate over e-scooter regulations is far from over.
Melbourne is not the only major city reconsidering the benefits of e-scooters.
In 2023, Paris, once one of Europe’s leading cities for e-scooter usage, voted to ban rented electric scooters. Copenhagen initially banned them in 2020 but reintroduced them the following year with stricter regulations. Barcelona has had a partial ban on e-scooters in its historic areas since 2016. In London, while privately owned e-scooters are still illegal on public roads, public trials with three operators have been ongoing since mid-2021.
Rome also reevaluated its stance on e-scooters in 2022, introducing new rules to mitigate their impact. That year, heritage concerns came to the forefront when two Americans were fined about $800 each for damaging the Spanish Steps with rental scooters, causing approximately $26,000 in damage.
In Seoul this month, the dangers of mixing alcohol with e-scooters were highlighted when K-pop star Suga, a member of BTS, apologized after being caught riding an electric scooter under the influence. He expressed his regret in a post on Weverse, an online fan platform, saying he was "heavy-hearted and sorry" for his actions. Suga explained that after drinking, he rode a scooter home, not realizing that it was illegal to do so under the influence. He fell while parking the scooter and was fined and had his license revoked after a police check.
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