Fraser Coast council approves electric scooters

Electric scooters for hire will become a permanent transport option on the Fraser Coast after the council not only approved the service for Hervey Bay but also, its potential extension to Maryborough.

Commercial electric scooters will become a permanent fixture on the Fraser Coast after a council meeting heard about the need to look to the future.

It comes after a survey about whether the scooter service, which has been trialled for six months, should continue attracted about 1500 responses – 49% of which were against the idea.

An overwhelming number of those against were aged 50 and over with the highest number of respondents aged over 60.

Councillor Jade Wellings told Wednesday’s council meeting the decision making process on all local issues always carried the burden of striking a balance between “catering to our ageing population … but also trying to create a future where our young people want to stay here and be part of the Fraser Coast”.

Referencing concerns about scooters being dumped in streets and the speed and distance travelled, Ms Wellings was adamant that as long as rules on these issues, along with helmet wearing and how quickly scooters must be picked up after being “left lying around” were addressed, approving their continued use was “a step in the right direction”.

“New things can be scary … nothing new was ever launched in a flawless perfect way,” she told the meeting

“When cars came out, roads were made for horses and when scooters have come out, our roads are made for cars.”

Describing a recent visit where she and Councillors Paul and Phil Truscott were in Brisbane and saw the CBD had dedicated lanes for electric bike and scooter use, she said the council their was “embracing the change”.

She said a look at the survey results showed young people were “telling us they want this, they are telling us that they want more environment friendly ways to get around, more active ways to get around and they want access to these sorts of things so for me it‘s about listening to the young people of the area and (thinking about) what sort of future we want for them and finding a way that we can find out the bugs and make it work.”

She also said a big issue was that people confused the rented scooters for privately owned scooters which were able to travel at speeds as high as 88kmph and hoped that public scooters would make it less likely there would be “riders out there hooning at higher speeds”.

Councillor Denis Chapman said numbers showed the scooters were getting used while Councillor Daniel Sanderson said he was pleased to see if the tender is successful it would include Maryborough “which is exciting … I think it‘s good for all generations”.

Councillor Darren Everard however was concerned there was “no quantifiable data on the number of people who ended up in emergency department” as a result of scooter use and the fact that they were still left all over the place and were a “crazy” trip hazard.

The agenda for Wednesday’s council meeting revealed that while feedback for the trial had been “mixed”, officers ultimately found there were “significant benefits to members of the community” and have recommended councillors vote to award a commercial permit to a company for ongoing e-scooter rentals.

The trial, which clocked more than 50,000 scooter rides, was managed by Bird but the tender process, if approved, would be open to all e-scooter operators.

Isabelle and Miles Jacks on some of the Bird e-scooters near the pier in Hervey Bay.

Survey responses which backed the e-scooters flagged they were “needed” especially for cash-strapped locals aged between 16-35.

One read: “So its hard for people like me to catch a bus … Taxis are impossible to get around town having to wait over two hours at a time for taxi is just unacceptable. Since the Bird E-Scooters came to town, I can quickly check my app for the nearest scooter and be on my way. Thank you, keep ‘em (sic) coming” while another read “I personally use the same paths and areas with an electric wheelchair. Happy to share, I do appreciate a bell warning.”

Negative responses flagged safety fears and the dumping of e-scooters once users were finished with them.

“(They are) unsafe, lots of near misses seen … cars backing out of driveways, other pedestrians, crossing roads and going around corners on wrong sides of road, 25km an hour plus and no helmets and scratches on cars. Plus they are left lying everywhere: on the roads, in people‘s driveways, waterways and ocean and thrown over the fence”.

This was echoed by another participant who wrote “the things are left strewn all over the place and a tripping danger. I have seen them sitting in one place sometimes for days before they are picked up. Queensland like other states need to ban all e-scooters as parents don’t have the brains to keep young kids off them. Someone is going to die from a scooter accident in Hervey Bay”.

While the e-scooter report before council noted a number of “challenges” (eg the policing of helmet use which had so far proved “largely ineffective” and the stability of scooters which were regularly found lying on the ground) should the council make e-scooter hire part of its transport mix, it said that “on the positive side, use by both locals and visitors has been strong.

“Experiences in other cities around Australia and the world have demonstrated that it is possible to see that suitable safety measures and restrictions are in place to mitigate community concerns around the impact of commercial e-scooter hire operations,” the council report reads.

“There are a number of companies that operate e-scooter rentals in Australia and internationally including (but not limited to) Bird, Beam, Lime, Neuron and Superpedestrian.

“Undertaking a tender process to award the issue of a commercial permit would assist in ensuring that a permit is awarded to the company that is most suited to addressing both the needs and concerns of Fraser Coast residents.”

William Jacks on a Bird e-scooter on the Esplanade near the pier, Hervey Bay.

In Bird’s submission to the council, the company claimed that based on population estimates and ridership data, at least one in every five people in Hervey Bay had ridden one of its scooters.

“We would expect to see even stronger ridership over a tourist season, particularly as locals often take Bird rides with their visiting families,” the submission reads.

“The data also shows evidence of a mode shift away from cars, with at least one in every five riders using Bird for frequent routes, for instance to and from work, school or the grocery store.

“Mode shifts like this have strong overall benefits for the community; fewer cars on the road mean healthier communities, less traffic congestion and a lower risk of motor vehicle accidents.

“Those who have ridden our vehicles are asked to input a rating at the end of each ride; the average rating is above 4 stars across our Hervey Bay operations.”

The tender process and subsequent commercial permit will be awarded on the condition the council is able to issue additional permits and if there is sufficient demand, the permit will be valid for 12 months with a potential two-year extension on review.

Bird will continue to rent the e-scooters out while the tender process is underway.

The council passed the motion 8-3 with Councillors Everard, James Hansen and David Lee the only no votes.