Escooter trial to start

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mjr
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Re: Escooter trial to start

Post by mjr »

Navara wrote:Well...who'd have thought it would happen :roll:
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.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
Grandad
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Re: Escooter trial to start

Post by Grandad »

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.”
mattsccm
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Re: Escooter trial to start

Post by mattsccm »

My thoughts, reading above.
If they would be covered, insurance wise, with household cover if legal I would bet that they would soon be excluded.
They are the perfect and natural toy for kids as so many have a real scooter. To expect responsible use is ridiculous at best.
I don't see many people moving from their cars. Weather proof they aint. Also effort needed and would be tiring for the average slob for more than a minute or two.
Expensive and thus awkward to store when away from home.
I see a small value in urban areas if they could take 95% of cars and taxis etc from the roads but that won't happen.
Barks
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Re: Escooter trial to start

Post by Barks »

E scooters are an effective form of local transport and, in the main because they are new and different, are particularly attractive to those who want to be seen as ‘cutting edge’ and trendy’ and ‘attention seeking’. That shouldn’t detract from the clear practical opportunities that they offer particularly in towns and cities choked with traffic. But they come with an increased need for enforcement which, as seen in the trial town, is non-existent, and is also non existent for speeding drivers, parking abusers and a host of other anti social road activities, including by some cyclists, which the ‘I’ll do what I like brigade’ routinely seem to get away with. Problems with E Scooters are NOT caused by the machines, they are caused by people who have little or no respect for others and the only way they can be brought into line is the prospect of being caught and effectively punished. THe MPs and council leaders need to face up to this real problem and deal with it rather than try to score political points by being seen as pro or anti to the side issue.
Jdsk
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Re: Escooter trial to start

Post by Jdsk »

NB date.

London hire scheme trial:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... -from-june

Jonathan
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al_yrpal
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Re: Escooter trial to start

Post by al_yrpal »

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
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
pwa
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Re: Escooter trial to start

Post by pwa »

When it was announced that E scooters would be legalised, but only those provided by licensed hire companies, I knew what would happen, and it has. The ones I see around here are privately bought and owned, completely unregulated and mostly used by kids or young adults, often at high speed on pedestrian surfaces. The idea that E scooters can be controlled by regulations is fantasy.
Bmblbzzz
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Re: Escooter trial to start

Post by Bmblbzzz »

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.
merseymouth
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Re: Escooter trial to start

Post by merseymouth »

Hello all, I am thinking about setting up a dog training school?
I'll train the dogs to wee on them ruddy E:Scooters that invade our pavements, either whilst in use or parked/abandoned! :roll: :D :lol: .
With luck that will short out their electrics. Total pain in many regions, a*se especially! MM
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simonineaston
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Re: Escooter trial to start

Post by simonineaston »

The speed of hire e-scooters is limited in law to 25km/h, as for EAPCs.
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.
I don't mind - I'd have loved one back when I was 15 or 16, but I can't help feeling that there was quite a lot of poorly-managed risk going on there ! :lol:
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
Jdsk
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Re: Escooter trial to start

Post by Jdsk »

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.
I don't understand.

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
simonhill
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Re: Escooter trial to start

Post by simonhill »

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
Maybe part of the problem is that they are hire scooters with geographical restrictions.

I see a few whizzing around where I live (illegally as no hire scheme), but more interestingly there are usually 2 of them locked to the bike racks of a local station. I have seen people riding them home from commuting stations. If you were allowed to use your own one, then I could see far greater use: start and end of public transport; park car out of town and scoot in; short social trips; etc.

I agree they need to be controlled, but imagine if the only bikes were hire ones - would we all be using them all the time?

Note: only read from latest posts.
Bmblbzzz
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Re: Escooter trial to start

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Jdsk wrote: 19 May 2021, 1:29pm
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.
I don't understand.

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
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
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Re: Escooter trial to start

Post by Jdsk »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 19 May 2021, 2:08pm
Jdsk wrote: 19 May 2021, 1:29pm
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.
I don't understand.

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?
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.
Thanks.

I see what you mean about the legal route.

The technical regulations for the eScooter trials may be similar to those for eBikes, but insurance and a driving licence are needed...
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultat ... ter-trials

Jonathan
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RickH
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Re: Escooter trial to start

Post by RickH »

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.
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.
Former member of the Cult of the Polystyrene Head Carbuncle.
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