The man in charge of Newcastle’s e-scooters says it would be “brilliant” to expand the scheme to more parts of the North East, including the Gateshead Quayside.
Operator Neuron is celebrating both the one-year anniversary of its arrival on Tyneside and the news that its trial project has been extended to stay in Newcastle until the end of November.
The orange electric vehicles have carried riders more than half a million miles across the city since February 2021, while also clocking up close to 100,000 miles since subsequently launching in Sunderland too.
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Oliver Irons, Neuron's Newcastle city manager, told ChronicleLive that it was “not off the table” to increase the area where the scooters can be use in the city – after already expanding last November to take in places like Heaton and Ouseburn, having initially started in a central zone focused on the city centre and Jesmond.
Mr Irons says he wants the government to decide “sooner rather than later” whether to make the controversial e-scooters legal across the UK, something that the North East trials are helping to decide, and confirmed Neuron would want to remain in Newcastle permanently.
Asked if the scheme could go further beyond the city boundaries to parts of Gateshead or the North Tyneside coast, he responded: “We would look at any proposal to go into other parts of the North East. We like being here and it would make sense and be brilliant, with all the stuff going on along the Quayside, if we could be on both sides of the river in the future if that is possible.
“Roker seafront in Sunderland is incredibly popular so it would be fantastic, if it was safe enough, to go into other areas like that in the North East too.”
Neuron said that around a third of its trips directly replaced one using a car, saving an estimated 50 tonnes of CO2 in emissions, and that 55% of riders made a purchase in a local business as part of their most recent journey.
The e-scooters, 750 of which are now in operation in Newcastle, have proved popular with students and young people in particular – but have sparked ire among some residents.
Following the trial’s launch last year, there was a flurry of complaints about the vehicles being ridden in dangerous or illegal ways and parked inconsiderately.
A recent incident also saw one scooter flung from the High Level Bridge, narrowly missing a family below.
Mr Irons says that complaints about the scooters have dropped 87% now that the “novelty factor” has worn off, people are more aware of safety measures, and they are being used largely for regular commuter trips.
Neuron imposed an overnight curfew on the scooters soon after their introduction to prevent them being misused and Mr Irons said that lessons have been learned about how to avoid some problems, while a 12-month interim report assessing the successes and failures of the scheme is being finalised now.
The scooters use geofencing technology to ban riding or parking in certain areas and Mr Irons said that imposing stricter rules at Northumbria Police’s request on Black Eye Friday, Christmas Eve, and New Year’s Eve resulted in no incidents being reported on three of the busiest nights of the year.
He added: “We are safety first . I think the novelty factor has worn off now and we have integrated into the city, we have clear patterns now of when and where the scooters are used.
“But there are those very rare occasions where someone causes an incident like the High Level Bridge, which was absolutely appalling. We are still working closely with the police on that and providing as much detail as we can.
“We give the council as much control as possible through things like the geofencing and the curfew, but unfortunately there will always be that very rare element of a member of the public doing something like that.”
