Three-wheeled Ario e-scooters to stay in Townsville

A new company that markets itself as a safer alternative will permanently set up in Townsville amid growing concerns around e-scooters in Queensland.

Ario e-scooters are in Townsville to stay.

A new e-scooter brand, which markets itself as the safer alternative, will become a permanent fixture on the streets of Townsville from today.

This comes after two e-scooter deaths in the city in the past month and the state government began a probe into the future of e-scooters across Queensland.

Ario will deploy 400 new e-scooters into Townsville and 50 onto Magnetic Island from today – but they won’t look anything like the Neuron scooters that line the city’s streets.

Ario’s e-scooters have three wheels, giving people more stability, and have seats, offering transport to a broader cross section of the community.

The company will also introduce 50 e-bikes to the city later this month.

The scooters aren’t a totally new sight in the city, with the company running a trial from December last year, which included 200 e-scooters.

Ario e-scooters on The Strand.

Ario e-scooters replace Beam, which was forced to leave the market after it was alleged to have been non-compliant with its contract with Townsville City Council.

The company was accused of manipulating data in a number of cities it operated in, including Townsville, and putting more scooters on the streets than was allowed.

According to the company, Ario e-scooters facilitated 37,000 journeys in Townsville with no reported injuries or collisions.

Ario general manager Australia New Zealand Adam Rosseto said this was a “leap forward” for the company, and was providing a “blue print for urban mobility” across the country.

“Our e-scooters are a step-change for the industry, designed specifically to target key challenges and safety concerns with some of the most advanced technology on the market,” he said.

“We’ve engineered our vehicles to specifically address the safety challenges that are common across the sector, and to make sustainable travel a real option for more people, every day.”

The Ario scooters include a feature that fines riders if they do not wear or return a helmet.

Earlier this year, the Townsville Bulletin revealed that there had been a 60 per cent jump in hospital presentations in the 12 months to April.

In 2024, the Townsville Hospital and Health Service recorded 444 e-scooter-related injuries, up from 277 the previous year.

This month alone, there have been two deaths including an 18-year-old riding an electric scooter on the Flinders Highway and Mundingburra man, 34, on Dalrymple Rd.

In total, there have been five deaths on e-scooters this year, in comparison to three in 2024.

The Queensland government has launched an inquiry into e-scooter and e-bike safety, which will focus on the benefits of them, safety risks, current rules and how they compare with other jurisdictions, enforcement approaches and more.

Originally published as Three-wheeled Ario e-scooters to stay in Townsville