E-scooters to be allowed on public roads

[Dogtrousers]

Let's do some sums.

Let's say a bike or scooter costs £120. I've no idea if this is reasonable, but it's a nice figure.
A typical 20 minute hire costs about £4 Source: https://biketips.com/humanforest-tier-lime-electric-bike-london/
So let's say the at maximum utilisation a bike can net £12/hr for 10 hrs or £120 / day.
So theoretically the bike could cover its cost in a day (that's why I chose £120)

Realistically utilisation would be waaaay lower, and the bike possibly more expensive, but you could probably expect to cover the bike outlay in few weeks or maybe a bit longer.

Then you have the usual fixed overheads of staffing costs and IT costs and stuff like that plus maintenance and management of the bikes/scooters - all of which would, I expect add up to a more significant bill than the bikes/scooters themselves.

I've never used one, and looking at that price (£4 for 20 min) I never will. That's more than a single Z1 tube ticket and definitely more than the bus. It's also infinitely more than I pay to use the tubes, buses and trains as I travel free (off peak) because I'm an old git. I also don't mind walking a mile or two now and then.

 

[the_mikey]

Poor Londoners, you'll have to deal with more transport for the bone idle who crave convenience.

They've been living with cars on the road for well over a century now.

 

[Drago]

Although the cars a usually driven on the road, and not left littering the footway.

Hell, the things must be bad if we're getting nostalgic for cars!

 

[Dogtrousers]

Although the cars a usually driven on the road, and not left littering the footway.

Well, you say that, but it ain't always so.

Some guy started a thread all about it. Not sure what happened to him. https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/a-pavement-parking-odyssey.229498/

 

[Alex321]

Let's do some sums.

Let's say a bike or scooter costs £120. I've no idea if this is reasonable, but it's a nice figure.
A typical 20 minute hire costs about £4 Source: https://biketips.com/humanforest-tier-lime-electric-bike-london/
So let's say the at maximum utilisation a bike can net £12/hr for 10 hrs or £120 / day.
So theoretically the bike could cover its cost in a day (that's why I chose £120)

Realistically utilisation would be waaaay lower, and the bike possibly more expensive, but you could probably expect to cover the bike outlay in few weeks or maybe a bit longer.

Then you have the usual fixed overheads of staffing costs and IT costs and stuff like that plus maintenance and management of the bikes/scooters - all of which would, I expect add up to a more significant bill than the bikes/scooters themselves.

I've never used one, and looking at that price (£4 for 20 min) I never will. That's more than a single Z1 tube ticket and definitely more than the bus. It's also infinitely more than I pay to use the tubes, buses and trains as I travel free (off peak) because I'm an old git. I also don't mind walking a mile or two now and then.

They are half that for e-bikes here in Cardiff (and a quarter that for non e-bikes)
https://www.nextbike.co.uk/en/cardiff/prices/

Less than that even if you pay a monthly or annual subscription, which you probably would if using them a lot. It works out cheaper to pay a monthly subscription if you hire for more than 4 hours in a month.

I suspect the bikes cost rather more than your £120 suggestion too, but I still think they will be in profit reasonably quickly.

 

[T4tomo]

Hire scooters banned in Paris
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66682673

 

[Dogtrousers]

I suspect the bikes cost rather more than your £120 suggestion too, but I still think they will be in profit reasonably quickly.

So do I, but it made the sums easy. How about £240?

 

[Drago]

Well, you say that, but it ain't always so.

Some guy started a thread all about it. Not sure what happened to him. https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/a-pavement-parking-odyssey.229498/

Not such a problem in Paris.

It's illegal there, although the gendarmerie don't waste much time enforcing it.

But they don't need to. In Le Francais, if your car is damaged while parked illegally the insurance are not obliged to pay, so they don't, regardless of who is at fault. As a consequence they suffer far less in the way of cars parked on footways because over there actions can have expensive consequences .

 

[BoldonLad]

I do find it hard to understand why someone would pay £3500 for a vehicle that isn't legal on the roads. The risks of having it nicked (no insurance claim), hurting yourself or others in a crash (no insurance cover) or simply getting it crushed by the Police; that's a huge outlay. Especially when he could have done a CBT, bought a scooter and insurance and all for under £1500

Have you read the article?, the guy’s name tells you all 😊

 

[captain nemo1701]

They've been living with cars on the road for well over a century now.

I don't generally see cars swerving around pedestrians at 20mph on pavements or being dumped on cyclepaths. Plus you can hear cars....these darned things are as silent as birds....

 

[Drago]

The trial is going well in nearby Northampton.

Only two dead, one rider and one pedestrian, and the hire company have only been successfully prosecuted once for failing to give the identity of a rider involved in a collision to the police when requested.

Sounds like an unqualified success to me.

 

[captain nemo1701]

The trial is going well in nearby Northampton.

Only two dead, one rider and one pedestrian, and the hire company have only been successfully prosecuted once for failing to give the identity of a rider involved in a collision to the police when requested.

Sounds like an unqualified success to me.

Our new escooter firm 'Westscoot' are apparently going to give users safety training.

Here's my suggestions for them, based on experience in Bristol:

1. Get off pavements.
2. Painted cycle lanes aren't two-way short cuts, they are mono-directional ie. same way as the rest of the bl**dy traffic!
3. Likewise, one way streets are, unsurprisingly, one way.
3. Don't give a backie/croggy/lift to someone, they're for one rider only.
4. Don't hire them for your kids to play on.
5. You can't really pull wheelies on them or carry heavy luggage/shopping.
6. Don't dump them in roads/pavements/verges/cycle paths etc when you're finished with them. Its called fly-tipping.

 

[classic33]

Our new escooter firm 'Westscoot' are apparently going to give users safety training.

Here's my suggestions for them, based on experience in Bristol:

1. Get off pavements.
2. Painted cycle lanes aren't two-way short cuts, they are mono-directional ie. same way as the rest of the bl**dy traffic!*
3. Likewise, one way streets are, unsurprisingly, one way.
3. Don't give a backie/croggy/lift to someone, they're for one rider only.
4. Don't hire them for your kids to play on.
5. You can't really pull wheelies on them or carry heavy luggage/shopping.
6. Don't dump them in roads/pavements/verges/cycle paths etc when you're finished with them. Its called fly-tipping.

2. Painted cycle lanes aren't for use on an e-scooter, stay out of them. You are on a motorised vehicle.


*Painted cycle lane in Bradford city centre goes against the flow of motorised traffic. Often used as passing lane or parking area.

 

[vickster]

I’m in France currently, loads of E scooters, hire and private. Used incredibly considerately, pretty much all adults, male and female, almost no idiot male teens.
Frankly, the road cyclists are more of a menace on the bike paths here in Nice than the E-scooterists (I’ve just finished an E-bike tour)

 

[captain nemo1701]

2. Painted cycle lanes aren't for use on an e-scooter, stay out of them. You are on a motorised vehicle.


*Painted cycle lane in Bradford city centre goes against the flow of motorised traffic. Often used as passing lane or parking area.

There's a few contraflow lanes here in Bristol but mainly mono-directional. Its a bit disconcerting to by cycling along in the lane - sometimes on the inside of a traffic jam - to suddenly have an escooter coming towards you. Its happened to me a couple of times plus I see it a lot near where I work, they ride the wrong way down bus lanes.