Despite the Queensland government announcing tougher new e-scooter rules, one city is standing firm in its reluctance to allow shared vehicles on its footpaths.
Cairns Regional Council has knocked back several requests from e-scooter companies to work in the area while neighbouring councils are expanding the reach of shared e-scooters.
Shared e-scooters allow travellers to hire the scooter with an app, ride the scooter to their destination, and then leave it in a designated area available for the next person to hire.
Last year Beam scooters started operating in Port Douglas with just nine partner resorts and businesses, which has now been expanded to 14.
Port Douglas council followed in the footsteps of other Queensland councils like Townsville [including Magnetic Island], Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Brisbane, and Gold Coast councils to allow e-scooters on their streets.
In March, Townsville City Council approved an additional 16 square kilometres of ride zones in the city.
No shared e-scooters for Cairns
One council standing firm in not allowing e-scooters onto the streets is the Cairns Regional Council (CRC), which has knocked back several requests from e-scooter companies to work in the area.
In 2019, Lime scooters approached CRC to trial their e-scooters in the city's central business district.
Council officers recommended against the trial, claiming that the trial would breach the council's footpath safety policy.
Except for Mayor Bob Manning, Terry James, and Brett Moller, all councillors voted against allowing the trial to proceed.
Mr Moller said that if another firm approached the council he would still vote in favour of a trial.
"While I respect the majority view of the council, my view at the time was why not have a trial and see how it works within our city?" he said.
"Particularly with the uptake that is happening throughout other communities, I see nothing wrong personally with trialling them, so we can see how it works in our beautiful tropical city.
"What's important now compared to when e-scooters were first introduced is that the state government has now legislated safety regulations around the use of e-scooters, which is to come into effect on the first of November."
In 2020, CRC conducted the "Our Cairns" survey, including a question about allowing the commercial hire of e-scooters in Cairns.
According to the CRC website, only 38 per cent of respondents were totally against the introduction of e-scooters.
While 40 per cent were in favour with conditions attached — such as "only in the CBD" and "only if they could use the road shoulder" — another 19 per cent were in favour, with no conditions attached. Three per cent chose not to answer the question.
Despite numbers in favour of shared e-scooters, the CRC said the council's view had not changed when it came to shared e-scooter operators.
"Council has taken multiple requests for electric scooters into consideration by both taking the matter to Council for consideration and asking the community through consultation as part of the recent Our Cairns survey," a CRC spokesperson said.
Cairns is the next step
Beam Scooters policy manager Sarah Taylor said they supported the new e-scooter rules.
"We have worked extensively with the Queensland government on the new rule changes," she said.
"We are very supportive of anything that increases safety for riders and the broader community."
Ms Taylor said there was some confusion between shared e-scooters and privately owned scooters.
"We don't currently operate in Cairns; it's private scooters that you are currently seeing," she said.
"The biggest difference between shared and private e-scooters is that we have invested in geo-fencing capabilities, which restricts where the scooters can travel and how fast they can travel.
"They are very different from the private e-scooters, which just rely on the rider to make good choices."
Ms Taylor admitted Cairns was in their sights.
"We have engaged widely with the chamber of commerce and the tourism sector, and we are still working with the council to see what is possible," she said.
The numbers have it
Earlier this year, the Cairns Chamber of Commerce sent out a survey to its members about shared e-scooters.
The respondent pool was made up of business owners (60 per cent), key decision-makers in a business (35 per cent), and others.
Forty-nine per cent of respondents indicated they were supportive of e-scooters in Cairns, 40 per cent were not, and 11 per cent were undecided, with the main concerns being that the scooters would be discarded throughout the city, vandalised, and were not friendly to pedestrians and walkers.
