Hire e-scooters will be banned in the City of Melbourne local government area from mid-September, following a council meeting last night where councillors voted for the ban and to withdraw from contracts with e-scooter companies Lime and Neuron,
The ban will come into effect from mid-September, and will apply to the CBD and suburbs including Docklands, Carlton, Southbank, South Yarra, Flemington, Kensington, Port Melbourne, Parkville and East Melbourne.
Privately owned e-scooters can still be ridden within the City of Melbourne. The City of Yarra and City of Port Phillip e-scooter hire schemes will contribute to operate.
E-scooters have been very controversial and divisive among members of the public. While many people enjoy using them to get around quickly, many others have raised safety concerns due to poor behaviour of many e-scooter riders.
Pedestrians have had accidents and many near-misses as a result of e-scooters being illegally ridden on footpaths. Meanwhile drunken e-scooter riders and people failing to wear helmets, or giving dinks to second and third passengers have reportedly seen a spike in hospital admissions.
Another controversial aspect of the e-scooter scheme has related to insurance issues when a pedestrian or car is hit by an e-scooter. Unlike car accidents where victims can seek compensation from the TAC, the e-scooter hire companies void insurance if a rider is in an accident if they have acted illegally. This often means that someone who is injured because of a reckless e-scooter rider is unable to claim compensation for injuries or loss of income.
The move to ban the scooters comes even though the State Government announced last month that e-scooters are here to stay in Victoria, following several extended trial periods. However rental e-scooters can only operate in local government areas where the council has a contract with a supplier.
In moving the motion to ban e-scooters, Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece said he had been a strong supporter of the scheme when it began two years ago.
“But I’ve got to say, after two years, I have run out of patience for what I’ve seen on the streets and for parts of our city, ” Mr Reece told the meeting.
“We need a fundamental reset,” he said.
“After two year I have run out of patience at what I’m seeing on the streets and footpaths of our city,” he told the meeting.
“If you stand at the front of this Town Hall on any night of the week, and you look at what is happening there out in front of our own Town Hall, it’s shameful.
“There are literally more people disobeying the law on e-scooters than there are actually following the rules, people riding around without helmets, people double-dinking, people in groups, riding on the footpath, creating havoc on the footpaths of our city.”
Many members of the public attended the meeting to lend their voice for or against e-scooters.
