Melbourne’s e-scooter experiment is over

The Victorian capital’s 30-month trial of renting e-scooters on the city streets will end after the council killed off their use in a majority vote.

City of Melbourne councillors voted 6-4 to end the contracts with Lime and Neuron, having trialed their use since February 2022.

Lord mayor Nicholas Reece led the charge against them, calling for a “fundamental reset” after going from proponent to opponent because of safety concerns and user actions he labelled “shameful”.

The decision stands in contrast to the Victorian government, which only last month announced plans to legalise their use in Victoria “following a successful two-year trial in regional areas and metropolitan Melbourne”. New e-scooter rules, including bigger penalties for misuse, are also being introduced. Premier Jacinta Allan wants the Melbourne council to reconsider the decision.

The trial also involved adjacent councils City of Port Phillip and City of Yarra, and the state government changes handed authority to local councils to decide if they’re welcome.

Lime, owned by US rideshare giant Uber, and Singapore’s Neuron, have until September 18 to cease operations, then 30 days to remove the e-scooters.

But the risk is that like previous mobility disruptors, such as oBike, which pulled out of Melbourne in 2018 following several skirmishes with local government under former lord mayor Sally Capp, the operators may simply write off the e-scooters and leave council to deal with the mess.

We’re great supporters of bikes & cycling. @AustraliaObike have temporarily withdrawn from Melbourne.We're working closely with them to remove the remaining oBikes.We recommend people stop using @AustraliaObike & have asked the company to switch off their booking facility. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/Zbgj3CbfbA

— City of Melbourne (@cityofmelbourne) June 12, 2018

Lord mayor Reece said that while the e-scooter scheme was popular, there were serious issues.

“The safety of Melburnians is being constantly jeopardised by riders doing the wrong thing – riding on footpaths, double-dinking, riding without helmets and riding under the influence. E-scooters are thrown across our footpaths, parks and public spaces – creating trip hazards. Residents, visitors and traders have had enough,” he said.

“There have been more than two years of ongoing trials with providers under the Victorian Government. That is more than enough time to make necessary improvements, but we have not seen results. Councillors have decided it’s time to call an end to this trial.”

Reece said private e-scooters are still permitted in the City of Melbourne, and share e-bikes remain.

Swinburne Professor of Future Urban Mobility Hussein Dia said that while there are safety concerns, the ban is an overreaction.

“The Council could have paused operations instead until the safety and enforcement issues are sorted out. One e-scooter company has announced they will roll out new solutions such as AI-enabled cameras to detect and correct bad rider behaviour and improve safety, and it would have been good to give these a proper evaluation first,” he said.

“Regrettably, these total bans will deny responsible riders (who do the right thing and use these devices properly) from using smarter and greener options to get around the city. These scooters remain an important mode of transport in our efforts to lower emissions because they replace short distance car travel, and move people of out of their cars for trips.”