Councillors vote to ban e-scooters from Melbourne’s CBD

A slim majority of councillors have voted to ban share hire e-scooters from Melbourne’s CBD — despite eleventh-hour pleas from operators.

Councillors have voted to ban share hire e-scooters from Melbourne’s CBD, with a slim majority pushing ahead with the plan to tear up the council’s contracts with operators – despite eleventh-hour pleas from the companies.

Lord Mayor Nick Reece on Tuesday night moved an alternative motion at a Future Melbourne committee meeting to cancel the contracts with e-scooter operators Lime and Neuron, which operate in the City of Melbourne.

Dozens of members of the public addressed the meeting – including the operators, residents, workers, doctors, disability advocates and environmentalists – both for and against the ban.

The motion was ultimately carried, with Mr Reece and councillors Davydd Griffiths, Roshena Campbell, Jason Chang, Philip Le Liu and Kevin Louey voting in favour.

Greens councillors Dr Olivia Ball and Rohan Leppert and councillors Jamal Hakim and Elizabeth O’Sullivan Myles voted against.

Mr Reece says he has ‘run out of patience’ with reckless riders. Picture: David Crosling

According to the motion, council management will now be directed to “withdraw” from its agreements with Lime and Neuron, giving the companies 30 days to “cease operations” and retrieve all e-scooters from across the municipality.

The council has also requested a report be produced when more detail is known on the state government’s “forthcoming measures to improve safety and compliance”.

Mr Reece said he had thought about the matter “long and hard” but had “run out of patience” with reckless riders, having previously been a “strong supporter” of the scheme.

“The current contracts … have six months to go, but we cannot wait another six months,” he said.

“We need a fundamental reset.”

He described the move as the “Paris option”, with the French city banning share hire e-scooters in September last year.

Mr Griffiths agreed that it was time for the council to withdraw from the e-scooter trial, citing safety concerns, with Ms Campbell warning that the city “cannot afford to lose a life” in an e-scooter accident.

But Mr Leppert said he could not support the alternative motion in part because it was “procedurally unfair” to the operators, with Dr Ball calling it a “knee-jerk reaction”.

There are currently about 1500 share hire e-scooters in the City of Melbourne. Picture: Aaron Francis

With the contracts to be torn up, share hire e-scooters are set to be removed from the City of Melbourne by mid-September.

This means only private e-scooters will be able to be ridden within the municipality, which covers not only the Hoddle Grid but suburbs including Carlton and Southbank.

The alternative motion came days after a report to the Future Melbourne committee meeting from council management recommended a raft of new measures to crack down on unsafe and dangerous ­riding around the city.

The measures included capping the number of e-scooters allowed to operate in the city, steeper fines and new ­exclusion zones.

It is understood that the alternative motion was floated on Monday after scores of residents and business owners across the municipality contacted councillors, calling on them to simply scrap the e-scooter scheme altogether.

There are currently about 1500 share hire e-scooters operating in the city under the scheme, which had the support of former lord mayor Sally Capp.

After extending the trial three times, the state government last month announced it will allow share hire e-scooters to operate permanently from October – but it is up to councils to enter into contracts with operators.

Lime had proposed a ‘pause’ rather than a ban on e-scooters. Picture: Aaron Francis

Earlier on Tuesday, an “urgent” letter from Lime was sent to councillors after the alternative motion was made public on Monday, urging the council to reconsider its position, proposing a “pause” rather than a ban.

“Lime requests a more sensible approach that would require operators to pause e-scooter operations in the City of Melbourne until all of the new council actions … have been implemented,” Will Peters, director of government affairs at Lime, said in the letter, obtained by the Herald Sun.

These actions would have required Lime and Neuron to install camera technology on every e-scooter, reduce the total number of e-scooters and implement a Hoddle Grid cap of 400 e-scooters, among other things.

“At no point has the City of Melbourne indicated that there was an intention to terminate or withdraw from the City of Melbourne and Lime agreement,” Mr Peters said.

“To the contrary, through its dealings with Lime, the City of Melbourne has consistently represented its intention to continue the program following the implementation of the recommendations in the above report.

“We are hopeful that we can find a path forward.”

He added: “Any decision to terminate the agreement without any prior consultation or discussion infringes upon the essential duty of public bodies to act fairly in the exercise of public power.

“Such a decision would lack any procedural fairness owed to Lime by the City of Melbourne and Lime urges the reconsideration and possible modification of the motion.”

The Herald Sun understands the correspondence was not a legal letter.

The contracts with e-scooter providers Lime and Neuron will be cancelled. Picture: Aaron Francis

ANZ Neuron Mobility general manager Jayden Bryant said he was also caught off guard by the alternative motion.

“It is very odd that a tabled proposal for the introduction of new e-scooter technology can change to become a proposal for a ban in just one day,” he said.

“We have been having in-depth discussions with the City of Melbourne team for weeks about how to best optimise the city’s e-scooter program and have been working on delivering their plans for how to best regulate the e-scooter program for the future.

“This goes over and above the reforms announced by the state government.”

He said Neuron had announced “significant investment in new technology”, including e-scooters fitted with AI-powered cameras to help detect and prevent footpath riding.

“We are poised to introduce a whole range of new technologies onto Melbourne’s streets.

“If the recommendations provided by council officers were adopted, it would make the city’s e-scooter program the most tightly regulated in the world.”

A Lime spokesperson said: “Lime is attending the Future Melbourne committee tonight and is focused on balancing the concerns of some residents against the clear benefits that shared scooters bring to the whole of the City of Melbourne and its people.

“Lime remains committed to helping the City of Melbourne strike that balance.”

Lord mayor candidate Arron Wood says the e-scooter scheme could have been part of the sustainable transport mix. Picture: Supplied

Former deputy lord mayor Arron Wood, who is running for lord mayor in the upcoming local council election against Mr Reece, on Tuesday said the alternative motion was a “glaring example of a failure of strong leadership”.

“We’ve had two years of a never-ending (e-scooter) trial where hundreds of people have ended up in emergency room departments and the lack of Town Hall leadership has allowed that to meander along. We’ve got to the last moment before the homework is due, and suddenly we’re talking tearing up contracts,” he said.

“Mr Reece needs to guarantee that not a single rate payer dollar will be going to these e-scooter companies in compensation for this failure of leadership.”

Mr Wood last week pledged to ban e-scooters from the Hoddle Grid, if elected, and to reduce speed limits to 12 km/hr for those riding elsewhere in the City of Melbourne.

“The e-scooter scheme could have been (part) of the sustainable transport mix for Melbourne, if it was handled properly.”

Council management had recommended a raft of new measures to crack down on unsafe and dangerous ­riding around the city. Picture: Tamati Smith

Meanwhile, Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar owner David Malaspina welcomed the decision to axe the e-scooters, saying riders were regularly flouting the rules.

“I see the rules are not being adhered to, so they are dangerous, especially on the footpath,” he said.

“The problem we have is that we see a lot of them racing up the footpath, with no helmet.”

Mr Malaspina added that people have proved time and time again they cannot be trusted with the e-scooters.

“People are reckless, especially late at night,” he said.

“With a fantastic tram network, it should not be available recreationally because of the danger.”

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra said businesses in the city had raised concerns about the reckless and dangerous behaviour of e-scooter riders during the trial.

“And those concerns are yet to be resolved,” Mr Guerra said.

“Other global cities — like Paris and London — have banned e-scooters for good reason.

“While there was an opportunity to implement appropriate and safe commercial e-scooter arrangements, the trial period was a failure on both amenity and safety measures.”

Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar owner David Malaspina says e-scooter riders were not adhering to the rules. Picture: Wayne Taylor

Residents 3000 president Rafael Camillo, who made a submission prior to the meeting, said the council had “finally listened” to residents and business owners.

“We cannot keep jeopardising the safety of our local community and we do not support the extension of a trial or the permanent continuation of use of (share hire) e-scooters in 3000,” he wrote in his submission.

“It’s clear that the use of commercial e-scooters is causing more harm than good.”

Lime and Neuron also operate in the City of Port Phillip and the City of Yarra.

Port Phillip mayor Heather Cunsolo said the council had been unaware of the City of Melbourne’s proposal.

“We are trying to learn more and will be monitoring the outcome of that meeting,” Ms Cunsolo said.

“At our March 20 council meeting, we decided to extend existing agreements with the two current e-scooter operators until a procurement process and transition to a new shared e-scooter agreement was completed.

“In recognition of community concerns about safety and amenity impacts, this decision involved retaining a cap of 500 e-scooters.

“We also insisted the operators do more to address breaches such as riding on the footpath, no helmets and e-scooters being left on footpaths and driveways.”

Yarra City Council had no plans to change its position on its e-scooter arrangements with Lime and Neuron yet, but was expected to review the City of Melbourne’s decision.