9 April 2021

Neuron's e-scooters clock up 1 million kilometres

| Lottie Twyford
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E-scooters

Canberrans particularly enjoy riding around the smooth pavements around Lake Burley Griffin. Photo: Supplied.

Neuron Mobility has announced their fleet of orange e-scooters have clocked up 1 million kilometres since their introduction in Canberra in September last year.

To put that into perspective, we’ve crunched some numbers.

The bridge-to-bridge walk around Lake Burley Griffin is around 5 km, meaning you’d have to scoot it about 200,000 times to clock up the magic million.

If you’re travelling at 15 km/h (the speed limit around the lake), it’d take around 13,000 hours, or more than 541 days of non-stop scootering (not counting charge times).

According to new data from Neuron, 1 million scooter kilometres means 72 tonnes of CO2 have been eliminated as 42 per cent of these trips replaced a car journey.

Clearly, Canberra is car-mad, but the e-scooters are designed to replace the so-called ‘last mile’ trips, linking parking or public transport to final destinations and vice versa.

On average, Canberrans ride 2.2 kilometres, and 13 per cent of these trips would not have happened at all had it not been for the easy availability of the e-scooters.

Neuron stresses the positive impact the introduction of the e-scooters has had on the capital, saying 64 per cent of all rides resulted in a purchase from a business.

READ ALSO Night-time ‘fishing’ all part of the job for Canberra’s scooter crew

Neuron Mobility CEO Zachary Wang said the company was “thrilled to have reached 1 million kilometres in Canberra after only a few months of operation”.

Minister for Transport and City Services Chris Steel said data from both companies shows the e-scooters are attracting more than 4000 trips per day.

The single-day record for rides to date was on Saturday 21 November last year when passengers clocked up 9325 trips. Mostly, the e-scooters are used for short trips, with a median length of 8 minutes per ride recorded. They are also much more popular in the afternoons and evenings, and especially for linking inner north suburbs like Turner and O’Connor with Braddon and the city.

Neuron say they have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from riders about the service.

Despite repeated reports of vandalism, accidents and community concerns over the dangers they pose to pedestrians and riders, as well as the landscape, e-scooters remain a popular travel option for locals and visitors alike.

During the almost eight months the e-scooters have been a feature in the capital, Neuron and its competitor Beam have run campaigns to teach locals about riding safely and correctly.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped a spate of accidents, nor the issuing of police fines.

But Neuron says such cases are rare and that the vast majority of riders are behaving responsibly.

“We take safety very seriously, and while it is not possible to eliminate incidents entirely, we strive to reduce the risks as much as possible,” Mr Wang said.

Neuron has also partnered with the Australian Road Safety Foundation and will launch a new safety campaign in Canberra soon.

E-scooter riders are obliged to obey ACT traffic laws at all times, must wear a helmet and not be under the influence of either alcohol or drugs while riding.

Only one user is permitted per scooter, and neither provider allows users under the age of 18 to ride.

The ACT Government is currently undertaking a survey in order to further examine how e-scooters are being used and if any changes need to be made to the current scheme.

The e-scooter survey is available from the Transport Canberra website until Friday 23 April 2021.

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Capital Retro8:30 am 16 Apr 21

“…………there were 8 scooters just left on the footpath………….”

Do what I do when this situation confronts me namely “relocate” them. The company that owns them will find them, eventually.

Capital Retro8:22 am 13 Apr 21

“When will they be in Woden and Tuggeranong”?

Never.

DeweyDecimal171:33 pm 12 Apr 21

I reckon at least half of the people I see on these scooters are not wearing helmets. If people were using them correctly (wearing helmet, not having more than one passenger), they would be a fine, eco-friendly addition to public transport in Canberra.

Capital Retro1:49 pm 13 Apr 21

In what way are they “eco-friendly”?

Capital Retro8:06 am 16 Apr 21

These are the half that don’t have a brain to protect.

Capital Retro, they are zero emission. One does hope that at the end of the life they are recycled appropriately, and that people aren’t vandalising them.

Capital Retro7:46 am 17 Apr 21

Oh, “zero emission”, just like a hang glider and about as useful too!

The majority of comments on this article are opposed to e-scooters for safety and dumping reasons. The best thing to do is fill in the survey to let the ACT Govt know your views:

https://www.transport.act.gov.au/news/news-and-events-items/april-2021/e-scooter-the-stats-are-out

Elizabeth Monarch8:43 pm 12 Apr 21

Acton, thank you 🙂

I have just completed the survey.

Peter Curtis8:34 am 12 Apr 21

They are a public nuisance.

Cars kill over 1000 Australians per year and severely injure 20,000 per year and you are criticising scooters, (death toll zero, a few minor injuries).

Capital Retro4:08 pm 11 Apr 21

How many of these discarded toys are already at the bottom of LBG or in landfill at the MLRMC?

Walking or running is healthier and safer for everyone. The worst thing about scooters are the many near misses and dumping of these things all over the city, on paths, nature strips and roadsides. Why have the Greens allowed these two companies to run a business that litters and pollutes our city with dumped and abandoned scooters?

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