E-scooter trials - but rental only. What do members think?

[whole diary]

[eXPassenger]

I'm not sure I would be so bothered about a few e-scooters plugged into the mains on the train as I would be about a few e-scooters on tables and seats close to electric sockets.

or an extension cable from a seat down the carriage to the luggage rack.

[Red Squirrel]

Picking an e-scooter at random, I see it is quoted as having a typical range of 21km. It really is hard to imagine a case where someone would ride their scooter anything like this far to a station, and then rely on being able to recharge it on a train. In any case they'd need to stay on the train for 5 hours to recharge it.

Surely most people would ride less than 5km to a station and less than 5km to their final destination, where they would recharge it?

[grahame]

Picking an e-scooter at random, I see it is quoted as having a typical range of 21km. It really is hard to imagine a case where someone would ride their scooter anything like this far to a station, and then rely on being able to recharge it on a train. In any case they'd need to stay on the train for 5 hours to recharge it.

Surely most people would ride less than 5km to a station and less than 5km to their final destination, where they would recharge it?

Well now ... in my youff I lived in Orpington.   Rode a moped up to Euston and travelled with it on the Clansman to Inverness.  That, of course, was a petrol device (wouldn't be allowed on the train these days). Memories of it being in the rear van which stuck out the back of the platform, and the train having to be split and shunted to let me off.

Falacy in the "charge on train" argument for a modern electric version ... that I stopped overnight in Inverness and there would have been plenty of time to charge as I slept in my hotel before setting off to explore places like John O'Groats, Durness, Kinlochberbervie, Lochinver, Poolewe, Glenelg, the Quirang, Arisaig, Strontian, Lochranza and Ardrossan before getting the train back from Carlisle.

[Bmblbzzz]

Well if we're reminiscing about guard's vans... I remember aged about 18 or 19 riding my bicycle to Cheltenham in brilliant sunshine. While I was there the heavens opened, thunder and lightning, dancing rain drops and all. So I decided to get the train back. Put my bike in the guard's van. Got out at Stroud, walked along the platform to the guard's van and there were two bikes in it. Neither of them mine. Panic! Some thief at Gloucester or Stonehouse has walked off with my bike! "Yours is in the other van" said the guard. Yes, two guard's vans (but only one guard).  No buffet though.  This would have been the late 80s.

[TonyK]

Picking an e-scooter at random, I see it is quoted as having a typical range of 21km. It really is hard to imagine a case where someone would ride their scooter anything like this far to a station, and then rely on being able to recharge it on a train. In any case they'd need to stay on the train for 5 hours to recharge it.

Surely most people would ride less than 5km to a station and less than 5km to their final destination, where they would recharge it?

You would think so, but then you wouldn't expect to see a desktop computer, monitor and printer set up on a table in a carriage.

[Bmblbzzz]

On-train charging for e-bikes and presumably also e-scooters now available; but only on five trains, all in Scotland.

The redesigned carriage boasts space for tandem cycles, and an e-bike charging socket ? a first for a train in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

https://www.railbusinessdaily.com/first-look-inside-scotrails-active-travel-carriages/

[Red Squirrel]

I take it all back. O tempora, o mores!

[TonyK]

I take it all back. O tempora, o mores!

Sic Transit Gloria Swanson. Good luck with that crossword tomorrow.

My view on what passengers are capable of where personal transport is concerned was modified by witnessing a stand-up argument between a train manager and the healthy young man who wanted to bring his mountain bike onto a pretty full (then only two-car) train to get from Stapleton Road to Montpelier.

[Red Squirrel]

E-SCOOTER HIRE TRIALS BEGIN IN BRISTOL



One hundred coral-coloured electric scooters can now be hired in Bristol.

Thursday is the first day of a trial scheme for the vehicles, which cost ?1 to unlock via the Voi app and then are charged at 20p per minute to ride.

While privately owned e-scooters remain illegal to use on roads, pavements, parks and any other areas, the e-scooters that are hired or leased through the trial can be used legally on roads, cycle lanes or cycle tracks.

[...continues]

Source: Bristol 24/7

[TonyK]

Good news on e-scooters comes from Birmingham, where, following the start of their own trial, a magnet fishing group has found a way to recover them from canals. So says the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page).

Magnet fishing group asked to help retrieve e-scooters
A group that uses magnets to fish metal items out of Birmingham's canals has been asked to help retrieve missing e-scooters.


Scooter
Marie CollinsCopyright: Marie Collins
A 12-month trial of the devices is taking place across parts of the West Midlands by Swedish company Voi.

Marie Collins, from the Peaky Dippers group, said it had helped fish one from the water and the company had "already told us where there's a few that need pulling out".

A spokesperson from Voi said the company was against any acts of vandalism that could lead to pollution and was developing a "drowning feature" that would alert it immediately when a scooter ended up under water.

Since launching in the city, the company said there had been more than 24,000 rides taken by more than 6,700 unique users.

"Peaky dippers" - 

This won't be a problem in Bristol, obviously.

[Red Squirrel]

the vehicles ... cost ?1 to unlock via the Voi app and then are charged at 20p per minute to ride.

That's a lot more than I was expecting!

[Bmblbzzz]

I saw two people using them today. I think they'd just activated the app and unlocked them.

Yeah, 20p a minute does seem a lot compared to ?1 an hour for the Yo bikes (which of course aren't electric) or even to a bus fare.

[grahame]

Yeah, 20p a minute does seem a lot ...

Provocative comparison:
Taxi 133p / km = 213p / mile plus overhead
e-Scooter 80p / mile at top speed 15 m.p.h;  average half that = 160p / mile plus overhead
Electric bike - 2000p for 3.5 hours; say 15 miles = 133p / mile includes overhead
Shank's pony - stop for coffee at 250p every 2 hours at 3.5 m.p.h = 37p / mile

Bus Melksham to Trowbridge, 6 miles - 450p = 70p / mile
Train Melksham to Trowbridge, 6 miles - 420p = 75p / mile
Train RETURN  / Melksham to Trowbridge (41p or 38p off peak return)

At 20p / minute (12 pounds per hour) I suspect that speed of docking / undocking and how fast you can travel will be significant and could encourage speed over safety?

[Bmblbzzz]

I would expect to travel far more than 15 miles in 3.5 hours on an electric bike, or even a non-electric one.

[grahame]

I would expect to travel far more than 15 miles in 3.5 hours on an electric bike, or even a non-electric one.

Indeed, but with the same hire and return point in the city of Bristol, would you want to be cycling all the time?  The blurb suggests enough battery for 50 miles ...