Hire e-scooters have been banned from Melbourne’s CBD after council voted to scrap contracts with operators Neuron and Lime.
Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece’s motion to end the contracts passed at a committee meeting tonight, leaving operators with 30 days to remove about 1500 of their e-scooters from the city.
The meeting heard of the dangers and risks e-scooters pose to both pedestrians and users themselves.
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“The current contracts have six months to go, but we cannot wait six months,” Reece said.
“We need a fundamental reset.”
It comes just months after the Victorian government moved to legalise the use of private e-scooters, which will not be included in the ban.
A Lime spokesperson said e-scooters were a “tremendously popular” option for many people.
The spokesperson said the company had more than $40 million in locally-based operations and technology.
“They offer an affordable, convenient, and sustainable transport option that people rely on. Last week, Melbourne had higher vehicle utilisation than Paris, during the Olympics,” the spokesperson said.
“If hire schemes aren’t around, riders will turn to unregulated privately owned scooters that can be modified to travel at the same speeds as cars, and without the ability to implement geofencing, slow zones and helmets.”
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The spokesperson said they would continue to remain focused on improving their service and taking “concerns raised by local residents”.
E-scooters were introduced as part of a two-year trial across the Melbourne, Yarra, and Port Phillip council areas.
A Neuron spokesperson said they had been “having in-depth discussions” with council for weeks about how to best optimise the city’s e-scooter program.
“It is very odd that a tabled proposal for the introduction of new e-scooter technology can change to become a proposal for a ban in just one day,” the spokesperson said.
“We have already announced significant investment in new technology, including e-scooters fitted with AI-powered cameras to help detect and prevent footpath riding. We are poised to introduce a whole range of new technologies onto Melbourne’s streets.
“If the recommendations provided by council officers were adopted, it would make the city’s e-scooter program the most tightly regulated in the world.”
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