Electric scooters

[BristolEcho]

You may or may not be allowed on the train with your scooter.
TFL bans escooters due to a number of fires involving them. Other rail companies may do same.

Unlike ebikes the battery standards of escooters vary wildly.

I guess if they are brought under regulation that will help, but thanks for the heads up I will check with GWR before I commit. Would be a real shame. I already have a ebike but it's a bit bulky for the train so guess I could get a folding one otherwise. Will see.

I did just think about getting a moped but I am trying to limit overall spending.

 

[steveseagull]

I don't think any train companies have banned them. Thameslink Govia and Southern plus their franchises deffo have not. There is a requirement to fold them and they are (along with bikes) not allowed on rush hour trains. TFL have but I suspect that will be rescinded when the new laws and standards come in.

In other news, No 10 have confirmed this legislation will be in the transport bill.

If you want specs etc, Warwick University's roadmap will give you all the likely pointers

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/business/transportelec/micro_mobility_roadmap.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3yJ33V_Sv6JBcwtkoU47FjqO9kKwbAosPgaElg1qm-mQjcljnLlNuH4fA

On safety, five times safer than bikes.

E-scooters 'are safer than bikes' major new study has shown

And the dangers to pedestrians are over-stated too

www.bristolpost.co.uk

 

[steveseagull]

GWR

"E-scooters can only be carried on the train if they are folded and safely stored in the floor level of the bulk luggage compartment."

 

[nick]

Not disagreeing with anything, but worth noticing that the Bristol Post report references a RoSPA report that was done "in partnership" with a scooter hire company
"The report’s authors, who had teamed up with Neuron, one of the scooter hire companies running trial schemes of e-scooter hire in cities across the country, did issue a caveat that the data they collected from police injury reports and the scooter firm themselves, only covered 2020, and since then e-scooter use has risen rapidly."

 

[Hollis]

Completely agree - the results are highly dubious, and if I was the researcher I would seriously be questioning my method. It looks like the rental company was trying to demonstrate that rental e-scooters are safer than private scooters - which I'm sure they are.

 

[Hollis]

Guessing that helmets will be part of the new legal measures. Probably a good thing-always going to be potentially lethal with those tiny wheels as noted above.It was the small diameter of the front wheel that made "Chopper" kids bikes such a dreadful hazard as I recall.

Seems like for the rental ones the wheels, or at least the front wheels, are getting bigger. Both the latest generation of Voi and Lime are going for 12" wheels.

Lime’s Gen4 E-Scooter Rolls into Cities Worldwide, Delivering The…

Meet Voiager 5, Voi’s safest and most durable e-scooter to date

Also lots of stuff about avoiding scooters with wheels under 10" now - due to the pothole problem.. and a smooth ride being important to people.

 

[pseudonarcissus]

just don't get frustrated with them

US tourist throws scooter down Rome’s Spanish Steps, causing €25,000 damage​

 

[T & P]

It’s already been mentioned in the press, but scooters appear to have become very popular with drug dealers doing local deliveries.

There’s a chap who for a few weeks now has been travelling on my street several times a day, in a clearly unrestricted e-scooter, whilst wearing a balaclava. Whereas I don’t know who he is and have no proof whatsoever of his chosen occupation, the balaclava is a bit of a giveaway

 

[pseudonarcissus]

It’s already been mentioned in the press, but scooters appear to have become very popular with drug dealers doing local deliveries.

the balaclava is a bit of a giveaway

I guess the alternative is having a jingle like an ice cream van

 

[8ball]

Whatever the problem is, these scooters aren’t the solution.

 

[T & P]

I guess the alternative is having a jingle like an ice cream van

Or ride a bicycle, which at least keeps you fitter and gives coppers less of an excuse to stop you than when riding a non-rental e-scooter whose rider is far more likely than not unlicensed and uninsured for.

Not that the fuzz are bothering to check on the licence and insurance status of people using privately owned scooters, though.

 

[pseudonarcissus]

Whatever the problem is, these scooters aren’t the solution.

they work here in Brazil. There just seem to be fewer assholes here than the UK. (present company excepted)

 

[T & P]

Whatever the problem is, these scooters aren’t the solution.

Used sensibly, and that includes a measured and rational degree of Highway Code breakage, as all other types of road users engage in, they’re not particularly worse than any other form of transport.

But in this country (or London at least) most users don’t show the faintest trace of consideration for others or self preservation for themselves. I’ve seen e-scooter riders in Berlin and they mostly behave like any other type of road user over there: watch out for peds, don’t ride on pavements, respect traffic lights and signs as if you were a motor vehicle.

In here, it has to be said they make even London cyclists look like an example of road behaviour proficiency.

 

[8ball]

they work here in Brazil. There just seem to be fewer assholes here than the UK. (present company excepted)

Yeah, nearly got taken out by a twat on one earlier today.

 

[Winot]

This has turned into an “old man shaking fist at clouds” thread.

 

[steveseagull]

This has turned into an “old man shaking fist at clouds” thread.

Hasn't it just! New moral panic I guess which is something brits are good at.

 

[BristolEcho]

Whatever the problem is, these scooters aren’t the solution.

Pretty sure they are a part of it. I was thinking about getting a car or motorbike for work, but this is actually a viable alternative when I'm not able to use my Electric bike.

 

[Hollis]

Pretty sure they are a part of it. I was thinking about getting a car or motorbike for work, but this is actually a viable alternative when I'm not able to use my Electric bike.

I dunno if you're in Bristol.. but when I was there a couple months ago the rental ones seemed to be used okay. There seems to be a difference in how they're used between cities. Bristol is the only place I've been where it seems a lot of the rental ones are being used for commuting. Went to Cheltenham and they hardly seem to be being used.. London doesn't seem to be much uptake either - but that could be because they're only available in some boroughs.

 

[8ball]

I dunno if you're in Bristol.. but when I was there a couple months ago the rental ones seemed to be used okay. There seems to be a difference in how they're used between cities. Bristol is the only place I've been where it seems a lot of the rental ones are being used or commuting.

Yeah, where I am people seem fairly sensible on the rented ones, aside from a certain degree of “multiple occupancy”.

 

[Hollis]

Might be some technology on the way to prevent tandem riding..

Bolt introduces tandem e-scooter riding prevention system

 

[Hollis]

TIER also going for 12" wheels now..

Not all e-scooters are created equal | TIER Blog

Seems all the big rental firms are in competition to make their scooters the safest, least troublesome in terms of pavement clutter etc.. I imagine only 2-3-4 of them will survive in the long term as the industry consolidates.

 

[Hollis]

Now a death and more serious injuries on pavements but let's not let it get in the way of this dull nonsense.

This has turned into an “old man shaking fist at clouds” thread.

 

[BristolEcho]

Now a death and more serious injuries on pavements but let's not let it get in the way of this dull nonsense.

What were the details? Who died? Scooterist (new word) or pedestrian?

 

[Hollis]

Boy, 14, questioned after woman dies following e-scooter crash

Girl, 6, suffers broken leg after being hit by e-scooter

Woman hurt after being hit by electric scooter

'My daughter, 5, was hit by an e-scooter and fractured 3 of her ribs'

Young girl, 8, hit by e-scooter and suffers broken leg and concussion in Hampshire

 

[BristolEcho]

Boy, 14, questioned after woman dies following e-scooter crash

Thanks for the link. That's really shit. I don't see an outright ban being an answer though and riding on the pavement is already illegal as it is on the road.

 

[Hollis]

I don't think a ban is the answer either... I think a lot of thought has to be given into how to make them safe for pedestrians and riders, and how unnecessary dangerous riding can be massively reduced.

 

[T & P]

I don't think a ban is the answer either... I think a lot of thought has to be given into how to make them safe for pedestrians and riders, and how unnecessary dangerous riding can be massively reduced.

Of course. And I don’t remember anyone in the last page or so suggesting a ban on e-scooters in the first place. But even suggesting that such reckless and antisocial behaviour such as riding on pavements at 15 mph on a soundless machine should not be tolerated, not least because it will invariably lead to some serious injuries and the odd death over time however infrequent, apparently amounts to nothing more than the proverbial ‘old man shouting at cloud’.

What’s even more amusing is that at least one poster who liked said post does little more than shout at clouds themselves elsewhere in this forum, depending on the mode of transportation. I can only imagine the outrage if someone posted a pic of a car blocking the pavement on a dead quiet cul-de-sac and somebody else described those complaining about it as an irrelevance and the equivalent of an old man shouting at clouds….

 

[BigTom]

I dunno if you're in Bristol.. but when I was there a couple months ago the rental ones seemed to be used okay. There seems to be a difference in how they're used between cities. Bristol is the only place I've been where it seems a lot of the rental ones are being used for commuting. Went to Cheltenham and they hardly seem to be being used.. London doesn't seem to be much uptake either - but that could be because they're only available in some boroughs.

I'm wondering if this is to do with geo locking?
When the voi rentals came to Birmingham you could only use them in the city centre initially. The area has expanded in some directions but the vast majority of people aren't going to be able to pick up a rental scooter near home to ride to and from work.

I have a five to ten minute walk to reach the edge of the area near me, and there's no reason to assume that there will be a scooter there for me to take every day, so i couldn't rely on it for a commute anyway.

 

[BigTom]

I dunno if you're in Bristol.. but when I was there a couple months ago the rental ones seemed to be used okay. There seems to be a difference in how they're used between cities. Bristol is the only place I've been where it seems a lot of the rental ones are being used for commuting. Went to Cheltenham and they hardly seem to be being used.. London doesn't seem to be much uptake either - but that could be because they're only available in some boroughs.

I'm wondering if this is to do with geo locking?

When the voi rentals came to Birmingham you could only use them in the city centre initially. The area has expanded in some directions but the vast majority of people aren't going to be able to pick up a rental scooter near home to ride to and from work.

I have a five to ten minute walk to reach the edge of the area near me, and there's no reason to assume that there will be a scooter there for me to take every day, so i couldn't rely on it for a commute anyway.

Perhaps in Bristol they are not locked to the centre and in residential areas there's enough around for people to be confident to use them for a commute.

 

[Chilli.s]

I'm wondering if this is to do with geo locking?

Yes i think so

Would be nice to rent them for say a week and keep it at home, charge it up and go anywhere. Suppose thats way off in the future though