Inexpensive electric transport, which is positioned as convenient and even environmentally friendly, is not losing popularity. But now more and more city residents, regardless of the country, want to ban the rental of electric scooters, as they create chaos on the streets and pedestrian paths.
In this regard, a number of cities have already decided to change their approach to the use of electric scooters. Paris completely banned electric scooters last year, and Rome, Copenhagen and Barcelona have introduced strict rules regarding rentals.
After about two years of debate and discussion, the Australian city of Melbourne seems to have followed the same path as Paris last year and decided to ban the rental of electric scooters. On Tuesday, August 13, the city council voted to terminate contracts with two scooter operators, Lime and Neuron. Both companies received notice that they must “… remove their vehicles from the streets of the city within 30 days.”
“This is an opportunity to end the chaos on Melbourne’s footpaths and make our city safe again,” Melbourne Lord Mayor Nicholas Rees said at a press conference on Wednesday.
I’ve heard Melbourne residents, businesses and visitors begging us to end the trial in recent days to make our city safe again.
Last night, the City Council voted to end scooter sharing contracts due to concerns for our community.
Public safety has always been our number one priority.
Despite the fact that there are around 6,800 scooter rides a day in Melbourne and the city’s carbon emissions have dropped by more than 400 tonnes over the past two and a half years, it appears that the negatives of scooter sharing have outweighed the negatives.