Melbourne’s e-scooter ban sparked public outrage

The Australian city of Melbourne has banned electric scooter rentals with officials saying they pose an unacceptable safety risk.

The city council’s U-turn comes after it first approved motorcycles in February 2022, saying it would use a two-year trial.

However, hundreds of accidents since then have caused complaints and public outrage.

Melbourne’s mayor said he was “fed up” with the bad behavior of some scooter users.

“There are too many people [are] riding on footpaths. People don’t park properly. They are activated, they scatter the city like confetti, like garbage, they create tripping hazards,” said Nicholas Reece. he told local radio station 3AW.

Melbourne is the latest city in the world to phase out rented motorbikes – which can travel up to 26km/h (16mph) – after a short period of operation. The French capital Paris officially banned them last September – Mr Reece said he wanted to copy the “Paris option”.

City councilors voted 6-4 Tuesday evening local time to ban scooters immediately.

Lime and Neuron users were ordered to remove the scooters within 30 days.

These companies have six months left in their contracts to use these vehicles and in the past few weeks they have been campaigning hard, urging users to apply to the council.

Both companies say they have invested heavily in recent months to improve safety and regulations around the use of scooters – Neuron says it plans to install AI cameras on scooters to prevent misuse.

A spokesman for the company criticized the blanket ban by the city council on Tuesday, saying they were in talks with city officials to introduce measures such as restricting the use of motorbikes in the most congested areas of the city, or stopping the rides.

“This goes beyond the changes announced by the state government,” Neuron’s Jayden Bryant previously told Australian media.

“That’s very strange [a different] a proposed proposal for the introduction of new e-scooter technology may turn into a ban proposal. “

About 1,500 Lime and Neuron scooters have been deployed across the city since the trial began in February 2022.

Melbourne city council has previously reported that the scooters have cut the city’s carbon emissions by more than 400 tonnes and encouraged the use of public transport.

But evidence continues to grow about the system’s flaws. One of the city’s main hospitals, the Royal Melbourne Hospital, published a report in December 2023 that found almost 250 passengers presented to the emergency department injured in 2022. helmet.

A hospital spokesperson said that e-scooter accidents have caused death and brain damage, especially young patients.