mobility solutions
provider Lime works
in globally
If a rider unwittingly enters
a pedestrian zone, the speed
of the e-scooter will immediately be
reduced to just 5mph
Alan Clarke, Lime, UK director of policy
If DfT decides to one day change
the law, enabling riders to use
e-scooters on public roads and
sidewalks, as is the case in a host
of European cities including Paris,
Berlin and Vienna, Corbett believes
that the e-scooter has a fundamental
role to play in the future of urban
transportation. He notes that
living a couple of hundred meters
from a transport hub “has become
something of a rare luxury which
a few can afford”.
He believes that the electric
scooters “can help fill the first and
last mile void” by providing riders
with “a clean, efficient, fast ondemand
service”.
Corbett explains, “We know from
our operations that adoption is very
high. In our first year alone, our
e-scooter rental service carried out 10
million rides. We think that if
e-scooters were introduced in the
UK, it could help to significantly
reduce transit deserts which have
grown around our cities, and reduce
NOx emissions.”
government who, after reminding
e-scooter manufacturers of their
responsibility to warn their
customers that e-scooters should
not be used on public thoroughfares,
published a paper entitled, The
Future of Mobility.
The study, which was published
in March 2019, documented the
government’s urban mobility vision
of the future. In short, the report
outlined the government’s desire
‘to implement a flexible regulatory
framework’ with a particular focus
on Mobility as a Service (MaaS),
micro mobility, data and
modernizing vehicle
legislation.
But can these four
strands, which form the
building blocks of a decentralized
transportation
system, be reconciled? Where
does micromobility fit into the
picture and can ageing
infrastructure really accommodate
an e-scooter revolution?
E-scooter testing
Bird, an electric scooter rental
service, is carrying out a controlled
trial in a 560-acre area in the Queen
Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. The
pilot began in November 2018 and
has recently been extended. It aims to
link commuters at Stratford
Underground Station to a
university campus and
business park, which lie
approximately 1.5 miles to
the east of the park. Bird
says it will share findings
with the Department for
Transport (DfT).
40 The number of cities
According to Bird, the 50-100
electric scooters, which can reach a
speed of 15mph, are used by
hundreds people every day and
Richard Corbett, Bird’s UK head of
operations, says that the electric
scooters are popular because “they
provide a cheaper and faster service
than using a taxi or a bus”. He also
maintains that “demand for Bird’s
dock-less service is growing”.
Micromobility & MaaS |
026 Traffic Technology International January/February 2020
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