Burnie is the latest city to jump on the e-scooter craze

Another Tasmanian city is jumping on the e-scooter craze with another trial to start in June.

E-SCOOTERS are coming to another Tasmanian city as Beam expands its electric transport empire into regional Tasmania.

Burnie is the latest city to jump on board and Beam will start operations there in June.

The company says riders in Tasmania have clocked up more than 700,000kms in the last four months.

Burnie will get 150 e-scooters as an introduction.

Mayor Steve Kons is a fan saying while he had not yet had a go on an e-scooter he was keen and the introduction of them would be good for a hilly city.

“It will be well regulated and with an ageing population there will be parts of the CBD which will be off limits. The scooters will be particularly helpful getting people from Upper Burnie down to the CBD and vice versa,” Mr Kons said.

Burnie mayor Steve Kons happy that restrictions have eased during the COVID-19 pandemic in the North West Coast. Picture: Grant Wells

Beam General Manager (ANZ) Tom Cooper, said it was a perfect time to grow its operations in Tasmania and he thanked the Burnie City Council for its trust in the company to conduct a shared-micro mobility trial.

“As we continue to offer shared micro mobility to residents and visitors to Tasmanian cities, our commitment is first and foremost to the safety of both the riding and non-riding community, and ensuring rider compliance with the state legislation.

“We have comprehensive in-app rider education, and incorporate safety features such as precision geofencing, vehicle tracking, triple brakes and bluetooth-locked helmets.

“We also have a three-strikes policy in place, where riders risk permanent bans for violation of the riding rules, and will be working closely with the local police to enforce the law.

“In addition to the current trial of pavement-detection technology we’re undertaking in Hobart and Launceston, we will also be introducing drink-riding deterrence technology to cities in Tasmania in the coming weeks to further support the efforts of the Tasmanian Police in enforcing the state legislation.”

Breaking News Breaking News A beam e-scooter

The Mercury reported last week that 10 Hobart e-scooter riders had been hospitalised, 15 users banned, 450 suspended, and 1000 warned for bad behaviour since the trial began in December.

Beam’s said its latest rider data from Hobart and Launceston shows the trial’s popularity, with each e-scooter used on average four times per day.

The average duration of a Beam e-scooter trip is 12 minutes in both Hobart and Launceston

Beam said its Hobart riders relied on shared e-scooters largely for work commutes (46%) and dining out (40%), with riders also revealing they rely on e-scooters to run errands (27%) and explore parts of the city they know less well (18%).

The most popular commuter routes in Launceston have been to/from South Launceston and the CBD, Inveresk/Invermay and the CBD, and to the University Campus at Newnham.

In Hobart, the most popular commuter routes are along typically congested car routes from Sandy Bay, Dynnyrne, Mount Nelson and South Hobart into the CBD, and out again. Other suburbs with increasing commuter usage are West Hobart, North Hobart, New Town, Mount Stuart and Lenah Valley.

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