Call to legalise e-scooters

More than 50 organisations have signed a letter calling on prime minister Rishi Sunak to legalise electric scooters. Currently, only rental e-scooters can be legally used on public roads through government trials, due to end in May 2024.

The signatories, which include councils, environmental charities and campaigners, warn that the UK is at risk of falling behind the rest of Europe in the roll-out of shared and zero-emissions transport including e-scooters. Signatories said that the trials have achieved more than 34 million journeys – with positive environmental and economic impacts on cities and towns. They raised concerns about an estimated 750,000 privately owned and unregulated e-scooters in the UK, which are “unlikely to undergo regular maintenance by trained professionals or have governmentmandated safety features”.

“Private e-scooters can cause concern for road users particularly disabled people in addition to potentially being unsafe for riders, however, this is where legislation and regulation can make a positive difference,” said the letter.

Six councils – Essex,Milton

Streets are for people in Southwark

A transport strategy called ‘Streets for People’ has been approved by the London Borough of Southwark to encourage more people to walk, cycle and use public transport. It puts the emphasis on transport at the very local level.

The council is launching a new app – Better Points Southwark –which tracks the user’s travel via GPS from their smartphone and rewards them with points that can be converted into vouchers, discounts in shops or used as charity donations.

gardens and parklets making them more attractive destinations.

The council is changing its kerbside pricing, so that the owners of vehicles that produce more greenhouse gases or take up more space will have to pay more for parking, said Wilson. “If your vehicle produces more exhaust or non-exhaust pollutants you should pay more. And if your vehicle takes up more space and increases congestion you should pay more,” he said.

Another initiative is ‘Try before you bike’, which gives people who cannot afford to buy a new bike the chance to hire one for free for three months. At the end of the three months, there is a choice to buy the bike outright, pay a monthly fee or return the bike, said the council. It is also seeking 25 “community influencers” from different communities, backgrounds and ages to take on the challenge of becoming cyclists. Over the year, they will be encouraged to share their stories to encourage people to try cycling.

Keynes, Somerset, North Northamptonshire, West Northamptonshire and West Yorkshire Combined Authority –have all signed the letter.

Other signatories include CoMoUK, Sustrans, Campaign for Better Transport, Urban Transport Group and London Cycling Campaign, along with micromobility operators Voi, Beryl, Dott, Ginger, Lime, Superpedestrian, Tier and Zwings.

Richard Dilks, chief executive of CoMoUK, said: “The evidence from the trials is that e-scooters are incredibly popular, with huge demand from users, and the UK has been left as an international outlier by not introducing permanent legality. To address the crisis levels of transport emissions in the UK and help people save money amid the cost-of-living crisis, the government can’t delay any further.”