Navara wrote:Well...who'd have thought it would happen
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/uk-first-e-sc ... 54183.html
What's it say, please? Yahoo doesn't like me and just keeps demanding that I agree to stuff, repeatedly.
Navara wrote:Well...who'd have thought it would happen
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/uk-first-e-sc ... 54183.html
What's it say, please?
When the UK’s first ever e-scooter pilot scheme was launched in Middlesbrough last month, bosses told The Independent they hoped there would be 10,000 of the vehicles on UK roads by next summer.
That figure, it seems, may have been optimistic.
A second pilot launch in neighbouring northeast town Hartlepool has had to be abandoned amid widespread misuse of the first 50 hire vehicles in Middlesbrough.
Mounting complaints include two teenagers taking them for a spin down the 70mph A19 and underage users zipping through the northeast town’s three shopping malls.
A spokesperson the Dundas Shopping Centre, one of the malls, said there had been “near-misses” involving elderly customers.
A staff member at a second, the Cleveland Centre, told the website Teesside Live: “We have got specific signs up but the scooters come in and fly around all over – it’s crazy.”
Legislation permitting the vehicles – which can reach speeds of 12mph – was rushed through parliament by government ministers last month in an apparent bid to get more people off buses in an age of climate change and coronavirus.
Middlesbrough was chosen for the country’s first trial after Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor of the Tees Valley, pushed to have the scheme piloted on his patch.
The aim was to start with 50 vehicles in Middlesbrough and Hartlepool before building up to as many as 1,000 across the entire area, which includes Redcar, Stockton-on-Tees and Darlington.
But after plans for Hartlepool’s launch were quietly dropped, the town’s MP Mike Hill labelled the vehicles as “useful as a chocolate fireguard”.
Speaking to The Independent, he said: “Using scooters to get people off buses as a way of beating either climate change or coronavirus is farcical. It is fiddling while Rome burns. Whatever the question, e-scooters in Hartlepool are not the answer.”
Ginger, the company behind the scheme, said it was still planning to introduce the vehicles into the town at some point in the future but could not give a date.
It refused to say why the initial 15 July launch date had been cancelled.
In a statement, Paul Hodgins, the company’s chief executive and a former Conservative council leader, said: “We’ve naturally evaluated the project since its very successful launch and made further modifications we believe will improve rider and community experience ahead of our planned roll-out to other areas.”
Two comments: I saw e-scooters on sale in Halfords at the w/e at around £500 - I thought you could only rent them at the mo'... bloke whizzed past me the other week, no lights, not Voi, in the rain, in the dark, in T shirt & jeans. I was doing 25mph, down my local road.The speed of hire e-scooters is limited in law to 25km/h, as for EAPCs.
I don't understand.Bmblbzzz wrote: ↑19 May 2021, 9:53am The speed of hire e-scooters is limited in law to 25km/h, as for EAPCs. That limit doesn't apply to privately owned e-scooters, and as a result many go quite a bit faster, possibly even double that; they can in fact reach their full design speed! This was, indeed, an inevitable consequence of not applying the regulations to all e-scooters. Consequence of prioritising commercial interests over regulations.
Maybe part of the problem is that they are hire scooters with geographical restrictions.al_yrpal wrote: ↑18 May 2021, 9:40am We have the scooters here in Taunton. The only people you see on them seem to be youngsters at weekends. In the town centre yesterday lunchtime there were groups of unused scooters and no one using them although the town was busy with pedestrians cyclists and cars. They havent made any impact on the traffic which is horrendous as far as I can see. Toys for students....
Al
Both, either. The regulations for hire e-scooters are a slight modification of the regulations for e-bikes; same cut-off speed but larger batteries and more powerful motors. By not allowing a route to legal ownership of private e-scooters, there is no incentive for owners (or manufacturers and retailers) to comply with those limits.Jdsk wrote: ↑19 May 2021, 1:29pmI don't understand.Bmblbzzz wrote: ↑19 May 2021, 9:53am The speed of hire e-scooters is limited in law to 25km/h, as for EAPCs. That limit doesn't apply to privately owned e-scooters, and as a result many go quite a bit faster, possibly even double that; they can in fact reach their full design speed! This was, indeed, an inevitable consequence of not applying the regulations to all e-scooters. Consequence of prioritising commercial interests over regulations.
Are you saying that privately owned eScooters should have been permitted on public roads if they are compliant with the eBike regulations or with the regulations used in the trials?
Thanks
Jonathan
Thanks.Bmblbzzz wrote: ↑19 May 2021, 2:08pmBoth, either. The regulations for hire e-scooters are a slight modification of the regulations for e-bikes; same cut-off speed but larger batteries and more powerful motors. By not allowing a route to legal ownership of private e-scooters, there is no incentive for owners (or manufacturers and retailers) to comply with those limits.Jdsk wrote: ↑19 May 2021, 1:29pmI don't understand.Bmblbzzz wrote: ↑19 May 2021, 9:53am The speed of hire e-scooters is limited in law to 25km/h, as for EAPCs. That limit doesn't apply to privately owned e-scooters, and as a result many go quite a bit faster, possibly even double that; they can in fact reach their full design speed! This was, indeed, an inevitable consequence of not applying the regulations to all e-scooters. Consequence of prioritising commercial interests over regulations.
Are you saying that privately owned eScooters should have been permitted on public roads if they are compliant with the eBike regulations or with the regulations used in the trials?
Or the same as with other forms of transport, there are a proportion of people who either don't care about or are unaware of the legalities of their use.Bmblbzzz wrote: ↑19 May 2021, 2:08pmBoth, either. The regulations for hire e-scooters are a slight modification of the regulations for e-bikes; same cut-off speed but larger batteries and more powerful motors. By not allowing a route to legal ownership of private e-scooters, there is no incentive for owners (or manufacturers and retailers) to comply with those limits.