Using e-scooters, e-bikes better than building more Qld roads

Queenslanders will one day forgo driving a car for a five-minute trip to grab a coffee or go shopping, instead using an e-scooter or e-bike, says an expert in micromobility services.

A one-stop phone app to plot the most efficient mode of travel as well as book and pay for it could be one of a range of smart new technologies to make traversing South East Queensland easier over the next decade.

E-scooters and e-bikes will continue to play a big role in the future, according to experts, with more innovative options on the table rather than building bigger and better roads to cope with a growing population.

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This includes a greater use of electric, connected and automated vehicles as well as more efficient uses of transport such as car and ride-sharing and new technology such as a Mobility as a Service app.

The app puts in the one device the process of working out the most efficient form of travel as well as booking and paying for it.

Lorenz Villalba from Bowen Hills and Jairaldine Cruz from Springfield enjoy Howard Smith Wharves by Neuron e-scooter. Picture: Richard Walker

Transurban estimates that by 2040, up to 60 per cent of motorists will be travelling on South East Queensland roads using a Mobility as a Service platform.

Transurban Queensland group executive Sue Johnson said her company’s vision for future transport in South East Queensland had all modes of transport working together to produce a truly integrated network so people can get where they want to go quickly and safely.

“There is no single solution to congestion, so our focus is on being agile to all forms of technology and ready to embrace anything new that is on its way,” she said.

“We have an unprecedented opportunity to showcase Brisbane and SEQ on the global stage, and also to accelerate transport solutions and infrastructure that will future-proof the region and protect against congestion.”

Transurban Queensland group executive Sue Johnson. Picture: AAP

University of Queensland Science Professor Jonathan Corcoran, who has been researching the use of micromobility services in Queensland with the help of private-sector companies in the field, said that while much of the public conversation about planning in South East Queensland concentrated on moving people long distances, there was a strong role for e-scooters and e-bikes in taking people shorter distances.

“If major infrastructure projects can create greater connection between hubs across Brisbane and the South East then micromobility services could help fill the ‘gaps,” he said.

“If you do something that’s a five-minute trip like going to coffee or doing shopping then it’s more efficient to be doing that by e-scooter or bike than driving a car.

“All those short trips that involve jumping in a car can be addressed by micromobility devices.”

He said that in South East Queensland, the weather had a big influence over their use, as the number of e-scooter trips increase with the Brisbane heat and decline with when it’s raining.

“Brisbane is using micromobility quite effectively, but the cities on the edge of southeast Queensland, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba, are really where they should be greater deployed,” he said.

“Moving someone from Brisbane to the Gold Coast quickly is fine, but often at the coast they’ve got to get into a car or connect with another public-transport service, when they could just be picking up an e-scooter or bike.”