Buzz over electric scooters for ‘last mile’ commute

Once considered a children’s toy, scooters are fast becoming a popular way for commuters to avoid traffic snarls on the way to the office or home.

COMMUTERS are driving a sales surge of electric scooters in Queensland, with manufacturers capitalising off the back of ‘gateway’ rental companies like Lime and Neuron.

Scooter brand Razor has reported an 81 per cent jump in sales of its electric scooters across Queensland over the past year. Its manufacturer, Funtastic, attributes the resurgence of scooters to the arrival of electric rental options.

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“The way we see Lime is really the trial offering on the market,” Funtastic head of marketing Kiera Day said. “We’re seeing people are really quickly converting into actually purchasing into an electric scooter. We can see direct correlation of sales in Queenslands due to the Lime offering.”

Razor Scooters are reporting an 84 per cent jump in sales as riders trial Lime and Neuron, then buy for themselves.

Digital sales of Razor scooters had been strong, she said, with Funtastic reporting online orders increasing 84 per cent year-on-year.

Once been considered a toy for children, “commuter scooters” have now become popular with office workers skipping between train and bus stops and their offices and homes.

“(Locals) are seeing it as a form of convenience, a way to avoid traffic,” Ms Day said.

“We often refer to Razor as the ‘last mile’ (of a journey), so you catch the train to work and then you use the scooter to get the last couple of kilometres to the office,” she said.

She said lightweight and foldable models had become favourites among this market.