Melbourne announces ban on shared e-scooters

Just one month after the state government declared e-scooters were “here to stay”, Melbourne City Council has banned shared e-scooters.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece launched a motion to cancel contracts with e-scooter companies Lime and Neuron at Tuesday’s council meeting, with the vote carrying it 6-4.

The council has given the operators 30 days to remove their e-scooters from city streets.

“Safety remains our number one priority,” said Lord Mayor Reece. “While the Victorian Government’s shared e-scooter scheme has been popular in Melbourne, there have also been serious issues.

“The safety of Melburnians is being constantly jeopardised by riders doing the wrong thing – riding on footpaths, double [riding], riding without helmets and riding under the influence. E-scooters are thrown across our footpaths, parks and public spaces – creating trip hazards. Residents, visitors and traders have had enough.”

Rethink

The move has caught the Victorian state government off guard, with Premier Jacinta Allan calling on the council to rethink its decision.

“We could see on balance there was a benefit to having scooters as part of the suite of public transport options, whether it’s buses and trains and trams, and I would hope that on balance the City of Melbourne would reconsider their position,” she said.

Last month the Victorian government – which regulates transport – announced that shared e-scooters would be permanently legalised across the state following a two-year trial in Melbourne and the bordering councils of Port Phillip and Yarra.

The move came with a number of strict conditions, including increased fines for riding on the pavement or not wearing a helmet.

The city council was originally due to meet to discuss the introduction of new safety technology for e-scooters, but Lord Mayor Reece proposed an alternative motion to end its contracts with Lime and Neuron.

Melbourne is now the second biggest city globally to ban shared e-scooters, following Paris’ decision last year.

Like the French capital, private e-scooters will still be permitted.

Reaction

“We are deeply disappointed that a slim majority of City of Melbourne councillors made the unexpected decision to cancel the city’s e-scooter programme without conducting any of the necessary considerations and evaluations one would expect before making such a drastic decision,” said Jayden Bryant, General Manager for Australia and New Zealand, Neuron Mobility.

“We are currently receiving enquiries from concerned riders, with many believing their opinions were not considered before the decision was made.

“Previously, we spent weeks working with the City of Melbourne team to optimise the city’s e-scooter programme. Based on this, we have already announced significant investments in new technology, such as e-scooters equipped with AI-powered cameras which helps detect and prevent footpath riding.

“We were poised to introduce a whole range of new technologies to Melbourne’s streets. If the recommendations provided by council officers were adopted, it would have made the city’s e-scooter programme the most tightly regulated in the world.”

Lime did not respond to a request for comment.

In December 2023, one of the city’s primary hospitals, the Royal Melbourne hospital, published a report which found that over 200 e-scooter riders had attended its emergency department with injuries in 2022.

A majority of these cases involved factors such as intoxication, speeding and not wearing a helmet.

Image: city of Melbourne