The Bristol region’s controversial e-scooter trial is being extended until November.
Metro mayor Dan Norris announced that he has agreed to the Government’s request to continue running the scheme that was due to end in March in large parts of the West of England Combined Authority (Weca), which he leads. Speaking on BBC Radio Bristol on Monday (February 28), Mr Norris said it would be up to Weca’s three constituent councils – Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire – to decide whether to continue, amid ongoing concerns over road safety and fire risk, but that he expected all three to do so.
“The Department for Transport has asked me if I could extend the trial until November and I’ve said yes. That paperwork went off on Friday. It is important we get this right because e-scooters are hugely popular, particularly with younger people," he told breakfast show host James Hanson.
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“On the other hand I get lots of reports about them being discarded and being trip hazards for people with visual impairments or hearing impairments because they sometimes can’t hear these scooters. Parents and carers of people in wheelchairs find them restricting and there are some questions about safety, both in terms of whether they’re combustible, that they catch fire, and also about how people use them – do they drive them well on the roads? – and a range of people have very strong views about that.”
The Labour West of England mayor said the request to extend the trial was understandable given how much it was affected by coronavirus. He said: “The pandemic is not the best time to have a trial about pretty much anything, let alone e-scooters, and we do need to get this right.
“We have huge challenges in Bristol and the West of England in terms of traffic pollution. Lots of people die unnecessarily because of pollution from vehicles, so e-scooters could be part of that answer. Lots of people need to get fitter and healthier, and e-scooters may help with that, although I have some doubts about that because I’m not sure as yet whether or not people are coming out of cars and using e-scooters, which would be a good thing.”
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Mr Norris said if people were instead using e-scooters as opposed to walking or cycling then that was “probably a bad thing” because the health benefits would be lost. He said an effective trial would help the Government make informed decisions about whether to legalise the form of transport and what rules should come with them. At present, only Voi electric scooters in official trial areas are permitted.
“Clearly there are some benefits to e-scooters, that’s apparent. They’re very popular, millions of journeys have been made in our region over the last year, it’s the highest usage of anywhere in the UK where the e-scooter trials are happening,” Mr Norris said. “That’s an encouraging thing. They clearly are meeting a need and are popular and also fun for lots of people.
“But they do raise all these other headaches potentially and we need to get to the bottom of that because we have to balance this up. There is a whole range of things we have to think about because I’m aware there are safety issues.
“If you’re on a push bike and you let go of the handles, it will tend to correct itself and is therefore inherently stable if you swerve, whereas with these e-scooters there is a question about whether if you take your hands off the handlebars for any reason, they tend to topple over. Again, the trial needs to work that out. I’m very much neutral on this.”
He said in addition to concerns from people with poor sight and hearing, the GPS system designed to stop e-scooters being ridden out of certain areas meant they could stop very suddenly, potentially dangerous if a vehicle was following behind. In January, the chairwoman of Avon Fire Authority branded e-scooters a “fire risk” following a warehouse blaze in Bristol on New Year’s Day involving hundreds of Voi vehicles and concerns over the lithium batteries.
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