Melbourne e-Scooters: Free morning trips as 12-month trial launches February 1

City commuters will have a chance to use Melbourne’s new e-Scooters for free when they launch next week. We took them for a test ride.

Melburnians will be able to scoot to work for free when the city’s newest transport option arrives on Tuesday.

E-scooter provider Neuron Mobility will offer free travel from 5am-9am, Monday to Friday, for the first month of the State Government’s 12-month trial from February 1.

A total of 1500 e-Scooters are being rolled out by Neuron (orange) and fellow provider Lime (green and white) for use across the City of Melbourne, City of Port Phillip and City of Yarra.

The Neuron team gave Leader a test ride in the Alexandra Gardens ahead of Tuesday’s launch, which you can watch in our video above.

Along with a wide platform to stand on and large tyres, the e-Scooters have two bells, one electric and one manual, and a button which talks to you when you crank up the speed.

Each e-scooter is fitted with a helmet, can reach a maximum speed of 20 km/h, and can be used on bike lanes, shared paths, and local roads with a speed limit of 50 km/h.

Only people aged 18 and over will be allowed to use them.

Neuron’s Australian chief Richard Hannah said he hoped Melburnians would take advantage of the launch offer and ride to work.

“We’re really trying to encourage people to ditch their car and get on a scooter when they’re travelling to work in the mornings,” he said.

“E-scooters are really well suited to the city and they will be a great way for locals as well as tourists to travel in a safe, convenient and environmentally-friendly way,” he said.

Lord Mayor of Melbourne Sally Capp rides one of the e-scooters available for public rental from February. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the free morning trips promotion was an extra incentive for workers to return to the city.

“Imagine arriving to your first meeting of the day fresh off an e-scooter!” she said.

“We can’t wait to see how commuters use this new and exciting transport method.”

After 9am, each e-scooter will cost $1 to unlock and 45 cents a minute per trip, with discounted multi-day passes also available.

Riders will need to download each provider’s app to their phones and then scan the QR code on the dashboard to enable them for use.

Mr Hannah said he was confident e-Scooters would be embraced in Melbourne after the government’s trial had a positive launch in Ballarat in December.

“We can see them helping to connect people to public transport, taking cars off the street and helping people beat the traffic with a new mode of really accessible transport,” he said.

“We can’t wait to see how they are going to positively impact the city.”