Forget the Melbourne CBD, e-scooters are charging ahead in the regions

The divisive rental e-scooters may have ground to a halt in the City of Melbourne, but they are powering ahead in regional Victoria, with some councils embracing them and operators pushing to expand into new areas.

Ballarat and Bendigo have welcomed the ride-share option, hoping it will boost tourism and reduce car use, but Geelong remains cautious after a troublesome e-bike trial.

Michael Poulton has been an early adopter of e-scooters in Ballarat. Credit: Justin McManus

Committee for Ballarat chief executive Michael Poulton, who uses an e-scooter every day, said they were available in designated spots near most locations he needed to visit.

“It’s a fun way of getting around town, and it’s certainly less stressful,” he said.

Poulton hoped the e-scooters would encourage more people to visit Ballarat by train and hire them to get to tourism destinations.

“The access to them from the railway station is fantastic,” he said. “It’s a great way to see the city.”

Poulton estimated he spent less than $10 a week on e-scooter hire. He said there were some instances of bad behaviour on e-scooters in Ballarat, but they were tightly controlled.

“They are the most regulated form of transport we have in our city,” he said. “The speeds are limited. How far you can go is limited. You are tracked constantly.”

In July, the state government said permanent e-scooter hire schemes would be made legal. However, in August the City of Melbourne banned rental e-scooters, citing bad behaviours including dinking passengers and riding on footpaths.

In September 2021, the City of Ballarat was chosen as a trial location for shared e-scooters. Helmets are compulsory and travel speeds are limited to 20km/h on local roads that have speed limits up to 60km/h.

Ballarat Mayor Des Hudson is also a supporter of e-scooters. Credit: Justin McManus

There are 250 e-scooters in the Ballarat fleet, which is operated by Neuron Mobility. They can be used in a 25-square-kilometre area.

Ballarat Mayor Des Hudson said the trial had been mostly positive, with more than 300,000 trips taken, covering more than 700,000 kilometres. He said 63 per cent of e-scooter trips replaced journeys that would have been taken by car.

“I’m certainly not opposed to the fleet expanding,” he said.

Hudson said that when the trial began, there were more instances of poor behaviour on the e-scooters, including risk riding and not using helmets.

The e-scooter boundary area and main parking stations in Ballarat.

“But I think now, over time, there has been a greater level of responsible use of the scooters,” he said.

Hudson said the main complaints related to where they were parked and users wanting to see faster response times from Neuron to return scooters to main parking areas.

A Neuron spokesman said geofencing technology controlled where the devices could be ridden and parked. He said the company was also investing in other technologies to improve parking, including designated parking stations in high-demand areas.

Last month, the City of Greater Bendigo voted in favour of expanding the operating area of an e-scooter trial in time for summer.

Shared e-scooters have been banned in the City of Melbourne.Credit: Joe Armao

“It is now more than two months since the trial commenced, and Beam’s purple e-scooters have been widely used by residents and tourists,” a council meeting agenda said.

In the first eight weeks of the trial in Bendigo, there were more than 13,000 trips, covering almost 23,000 kilometres. By August 13, the council had received 27 complaints and nine reports of incorrect parking.

The council, which declined to comment, reported operator Beam had issued 51 warnings to riders for bad behaviour.

Brisbane City Council cancelled its contract with Beam this month after the company was accused of under-reporting its fleet size. Beam confirmed it had appointed a legal team to investigate the allegations.

A Beam spokeswoman said the company was working with Bendigo’s council to expand the e-scooter operating area. She said Beam had received 69 requests from community members to relocate badly parked e-scooters.

“We’re pleased to see that the vast majority of riders are riding and parking responsibly. However, Beam’s enforcement program is always in place to ensure those misbehaving are removed from the platform,” she said.

Electric bike and scooter rental company Lime said it wanted to be part of a potential procurement process if Geelong sought to open a scheme.

However, the company was part of an unsuccessful trial of e-bikes that resulted in frequent complaints in Geelong.

City of Greater Geelong chief executive Ali Wastie said her council had concerns about the management of e-scooters and e-bikes due to the need to keep footpaths and roads clear and safe for all users.

“We understand there have been mixed experiences from other local governments who have trialled e-scooter and e-bike ride programs,” Wastie said. “We’re very interested to learn from Ballarat’s experience as part of the state government trial.”

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