How Melbourne has embraced e-scooter trial scheme

One big change is sweeping Melbourne’s bike lanes as the popularity of an unusual mode of transport soared in recent months.

Melburnians have officially notched up a million journeys on e-scooters in just 17 weeks across three inner-city municipalities.

The milestone comes as e-scooters now represent 8 per cent of the riders using bike lanes in the City of Melbourne during the morning peak.

Acting Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece said the scheme’s popularity in the inner suburbs had surpassed its success in much larger cities.

It took almost one year for London, which has three operators and 4100 e-scooters across 10 boroughs, to reach a million trips.

But Melbourne, which only has 1500 e-scooters across three local government areas, only needed 17 weeks to hit the major milestone.

Since the trial began, an average of 8600 trips – including 5200 in the City of Melbourne alone – have been bought every day.

Melburnians have notched up one million e-scooter journeys in 17 weeks. Picture: Jason Edwards

“To put these astonishing numbers in perspective, it took Londoners more than half a year longer to reach this special milestone – with thousands more scooters available,” Mr Reece said.

“E-scooters have brought so much fun to Melbourne, you never see anybody on an e-scooter with a frown on their face.”

The city’s controversial bike lanes are proving most popular with riders, accounting for 84 per cent of trips.

“Bike lanes are quickly becoming more like mobility lanes, carrying multiple different modes of transport including cyclists, e-scooters, e-bikes and others,” Mr Reece added.

“This is the same trend we are seeing in cities across the world like New York, London and Paris.”

Richard Hannah, who is the Australia-New Zealand head at e-scooter operator Neuron Mobility, said the strong appetite for the new mode of transport is aided by the city’s bustling events calendar.

“Melbourne’s e-scooter trial is breaking records when it comes to e-scooter utilisation,” Mr Hannah said.

“The demand generated from the city’s major events, as well as the fantastic cycling infrastructure are both playing a big part in the program’s early success.”

The scooters are most popular with those aged between 25 and 34.

Recent Neuron survey data has found that 8 out of 10 people believe the scooters have made a positive impact on the city, with 45 per cent of all trips replacing a car journey.

The scooters are most popular among 25-34 year olds (39 per cent), followed closely by 35-44 year olds (22 per cent), 18-24 year olds (per cent) and 44-54 year olds (14 per cent).

Just under half of all riders used the service to commute to work or study, while the majority rode around to explore the city.

Outside of the city centre, more than 160,000 trips have been taken across the City of Yarra since the trial began there four months ago.

In the City of Port Phillip, Neuron reported its highest ever national daily number of trips in April during the Australian Grand Prix.

“The economic and social connections offered by this new form of transport are contributing to our strategic direction for a liveable city and we are looking forward to the next exciting milestone,” City of Port Phillip deputy mayor Tim Baxter said.

City of Yarra deputy mayor Edward Crossland added: “Investing in modes of transport like e-scooters help to create a safer and more accessible city and promote a healthy and active lifestyle”.