Renting electric scooters at Melbourne’s CBC will soon be a thing of the past following a series of complaints about the popular vehicles.
Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece will table an amended motion at a Future Melbourne committee meeting on Tuesday. Herald of the Sun reported.
The motion calls for the cancellation of contracts with electric scooter providers Lime and Neuron, which operate in the city.
The motion is expected to pass, with the majority of councillors in favour of the proposal.
If the move is successful, shared rental e-scooters could be removed from the CBD by mid-September.
The council must give shared rental companies 30 days’ notice.
The potential termination of the contracts does not affect private electric scooters, which can continue to be used in the CBD and the neighbouring areas of Carlton and Southbank.
A number of new measures were recently outlined in a report from council management to the Futures Melbourne committee meeting.
Following a surge in complaints from residents and businesses, Melbourne’s Lord Mayor is set to table a motion to cancel contracts for electric scooter operators (pictured: an electric scooter rider in Melbourne)
The motion to ban all shared rental e-scooters does not affect the use of private e-scooters in the city which was introduced in April 2023 (pictured, Brynne Edelsten on an e-scooter in Melbourne)
The recommendations were made to help curb unsafe use and dangerous driving of ride-sharing vehicles.
Some of the suggestions included limiting the number of electric scooters in operation, increasing fines and introducing new exclusion zones.
But despite the potential crackdown, the council changed its mind on Monday after residents and businesses in the city called for the plan to be dropped.
Former Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp has backed the shared rental scheme, which has led to around 1,500 electric scooters operating in the city.
Last week, the current mayor admitted that the electric scooter hire had been popular, but that it also presented some “serious problems”.
“I admit I was a supporter of e-scooters when they first started, but I’m fed up with the rules being broken and seeing scooters strewn across the city like rubbish,” Cr Reece said.
He added that electric scooters also clog up city sidewalks, posing a tripping hazard and creating “mobility challenges.”
A mayoral candidate in the upcoming election said he would allow electric scooters to stay, but would reduce their speed to 12 km/h (pictured: men on electric scooters in Melbourne)
“Motorcyclists continue to break the law, endanger themselves and others, and create a nuisance on our streets,” he said.
Cr Reece added that while most cyclists “do the right thing”, others continue to endanger not only themselves but others as well.
Former deputy mayor Arron Wood has said he will vote against the motion because he believes shared-hire scooters are “a valuable part of Melbourne’s transport mix”.
“Not less than 48 hours later, we heard that the mayor could file a motion tomorrow night to break the scooter contracts without due process,” he said.
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