E-scooters travel over one million kilometres in Adelaide City Council trial

City scooters have been used to travel an astronomical distance - and back again - in the past two years, figures from the companies that own them reveal.

Commercial e-scooters have travelled more than one million kilometres in the city over the past 18 months.

Data collected by Adelaide City Council shows scooters operated by two companies, Neuron and Beam, have been used over 700,000 times within the Adelaide CBD and North Adelaide since January last year.

A staff report has recommended seeking permission from the State Government to extend a trial which began in February, 2019, as the scooters had proven to be popular.

“User data indicates e-scooters are well used, with approximately 700,000 trips taken from the issuing of the current permits in January 2020 to the end of June, 2021,” it said.

“The total distance travelled was over one million kilometres, with an average distance of 1.5 kilometres.”

This was almost the equivalent of going from Earth to the Moon and back twice, with 384,000km the distance between the two planets.

The report said over 450,000 e-scooter trips had been undertaken in the past six months “covering over 630,000 kilometres and averaging over 2500 trips per day”.

There had been 99 reported crashes involving scooters over the past 18 months, with 13 resulting in medical treatment.

Neuron Scooter employees Joe Oliver and Valerie Inting. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Most of the 395 complaints received by the council had involved poor behaviour by scooter riders and scooters being abandoned, particularly in residential areas.

“In the first six months of 2021, fifty items of feedback have been received, primarily relating to improper e-scooter placement,” said the report.

“Based on feedback, rider behaviour has improved.”

The existing scooter trial is due to end next month.

The report said ministerial permission should be sought to extend the trial so it could be linked up to other trials being conducted by Norwood, Payneham & St Peters and Unley councils.

During the city trial, e-scooters initially were limited to the CBD before boundaries were extended to North Adelaide and the parklands.

The report said permission was being sought to extend the southern boundary to Greenhill Rd, which would enable scooters to cross over into the Unley Council area.

“The extension will facilitate uninterrupted e-scooter trips between the council areas,” it said.

The e-scooter report will be discussed at a council workshop on Tuesday night.