Around 30 million journeys have been made since the UK’s shared e-scooter trials began in 2020, it has been reported by Zag Daily.
There are currently 24,000 shared e-scooters in 45 fleets available as part of the trials across England, and local authorities must decide from December on whether to continue with an extension to 31 May 2024.
According to Zag, most trials will continue, including the largest and most successful fleet – Voi’s 3,000-strong operation in Bristol.
This trial has reportedly seen around seven million journeys since launching just over two years ago and Bristol City Council is said to be re-tendering next year rather than Voi continuing uncontested to 2024.
London, where Dott, Tier and Lime operate, has seen around two million journeys since its launch last summer, and is also re-tendering next year for the final year of the trials, reported Zag.
A number of other trials have been extended without re-tendering announced as yet, including Birmingham, Southampton and Cambridge.
According to Zag, most of these extensions will run until summer 2024, with small numbers for a shorter length.
Zag said that while it had not had confirmation yet for some of the larger fleets, such as Northampton, Nottingham and Newcastle, related announcements of fleet innovations in these cities suggest an extension is likely.
Liverpool is the largest fleet for which there has been no extension news yet. Voi recently launched a small electric bikeshare fleet there, complementing its e-scooters and replacing a loss-making council-run service.
Commenting on the research, CoMoUK chief executive Richard Dilks said: “This is a momentous milestone for the shared e-scooter trials in England to have reached, showing sustained levels of popularity for this new alternative transport option.
“With the government confirming its intention to create a new powered light vehicle class that would legalise e-scooters, we want to see that happen as soon as possible to harness this popularity, along with the benefits it brings, while dealing with the lack of regulation of private e-scooters.”
Zag also reported that trials in Redditch, Hartlepool and Scunthorpe could be winding down due to some e-scooter fleets shrinking in those areas, and confirmed that trials in Slough and Canterbury will not continue beyond this month.
Slough and Canterbury will join Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stafford, Chard, Crewkerne, Redcar, Coventry, Rochdale and Clacton as places where trials finished without a replacement, suggesting that not every town or city in the UK is right for e-scooter sharing.
