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Author Topic: E-scooter trials - but rental only. What do members think?  (Read 60127 times)
TonyK
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« Reply #60 on: October 29, 2020, 23:00:26 »

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?

We could label these different items, a bit like Trip Advisor and others do, to show relative costs in a simple, easy to understand, pictorial way:
Train             ?
Bus              ??
E-bike          Huh
E-scooter     Huh?

(I never knew that 3 ?'s make a Huh!)
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grahame
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« Reply #61 on: October 30, 2020, 07:18:21 »

We could label these different items, a bit like Trip Advisor and others do, to show relative costs in a simple, easy to understand, pictorial way:
Train             ?
Bus              ??
E-bike          Huh
E-scooter     Huh?

(I never knew that 3 ?'s make a Huh!)

Technical note - the additional "Don't use smileys" option on posts allows you to switch this behaviour off for the whole of your post.     Do want just a few cases where ??? actually appears?  If so, you can insert an empty extra tag pair such as start and end italics between the characters which normally make a smiley.

Cool  for 8) is the one I most commonly run across ...


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TonyK
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« Reply #62 on: October 30, 2020, 09:39:35 »


Technical note - the additional "Don't use smileys" option on posts allows you to switch this behaviour off for the whole of your post.     Do want just a few cases where ??? actually appears?  If so, you can insert an empty extra tag pair such as start and end italics between the characters which normally make a smiley.

Cool  for 8) is the one I most commonly run across ...

They were meant to be ? signs - a bit like $ or ? but more British, but somehow come out all wrong. I'm no expert with computers.
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Red Squirrel
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« Reply #63 on: November 03, 2020, 12:16:07 »

Plans for extending the e-scooter scheme in Bristol were outlined at a meeting I attended (on Zoom) this morning. These are tentative at the moment, but include expanding the zones to the north (including the north fringe), west and south and increasing the number of scooters from 100 to 750 and ultimately 2000.

Future plans include an option to take out a personal lease on a scooter, which would allow you to take it home.

There is an aspiration to locate scooters at railway stations, but they will have to be parked on council-owned land pending negotiations with NR» (Network Rail - home page)/GWR (Great Western Railway). At Redland and Montpelier stations there is council-owned land close by, so these sites might present an early opportunity.

The scooters are initially limited to '10 mph' while people get used to them; this reduces to '5 mph' in shared use areas. Some places such as parks and shopping centres, and the zone limits, are geo-fenced. This is achieved by setting the speed limit to zero. Notably this doesn't stop people from pushing the scooter.
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Bmblbzzz
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« Reply #64 on: November 03, 2020, 13:46:10 »

Interesting news there, thanks, RS. Point by point:

At present the zone seems to be quite limited in the northward direction; ends at the Arches, from what I've seen. Was this just due to lack of scooters or something else?

Lease would presumably be priced at a huge discount to the current ?12 an hour... Who would be responsible for maintenance? How would the driving licence requirement be enforced if you can, in effect, lend it to other household members?

Why are they limited to 10mph rather than the 15mph that applies to e-bikes and is what I've heard in Birmingham (friend hired one there for an experiment)? Or has the speed been reduced nationally?

I'm not necessarily expecting you to have all or even any of the answers...

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Red Squirrel
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« Reply #65 on: November 03, 2020, 14:40:20 »

I'll do my best...

I think BCC» (Bristol City Council - about) were very concerned to phase this, so as to avoid hundreds of scooters getting dumped on the streets. It is all very controlled. And BCC's keen, I think, to get the community engagement right on this.

There are some 'interesting' controls: if you pick one up in the late evening, you may have to do a little quiz to check you are sober, for example, and you may receive a national ban if you break the usage rules. I imagine that might apply if you sublet a leased one, though that's just conjecture on my part. 

Every night the scooters will be 'rebalanced': moved to where they'll be needed the next day. So there'll be vans going round doing that, and presumably swapping batteries and so on.

The initial low speed limit is just part of the cautious approach; they'll be slow for a month while people get used to them and then the 25km/h limit will kick in.

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broadgage
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« Reply #66 on: November 03, 2020, 16:48:05 »

Hopefully an electric van will be used to transport the scooters rather than petrol or diesel fueled.
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A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
TonyK
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« Reply #67 on: November 03, 2020, 17:02:12 »

It sounds a more measured approach than the "big bang" method tried in some other places. As you say, getting the non-scooting public onside is key. The yellow hire pushbikes were becoming a nuisance in some parts - clearly something not wanted for scooters.

I must have a play when I next visit Bristol.
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CyclingSid
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« Reply #68 on: November 04, 2020, 07:02:06 »

Useful modification?
https://inews.co.uk/news/technology/e-scooters-alerts-noise-sensors-warn-pedestrians-safety-746228
if it happens
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TonyK
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« Reply #69 on: November 04, 2020, 09:11:07 »


Someone will complain that this will make no difference to the majority of younger people, immersed as they are in phones and music, but merely add an irritating beep-beep noise to the sound of screams, scooters doing a Colston into the docks, drums from today's demonstration, and the Mayoral telecast from Kuala Lumpur. I won't.
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« Reply #70 on: January 14, 2021, 20:00:39 »

From the BBC» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)
Quote
Anyone given an e-scooter as a Christmas gift should return it, a senior Met officer has said.

The devices have proved popular gifts even though privately-owned e-scooters are illegal to use on roads or in public places.

Ch Supt Simon Ovens said buying an e-scooter as a present was "crazy" because they were a danger to riders and others.

"They're simply not built for our roads," he added.

Later he adds
Quote
Ch Supt Ovens said he was not against new technology being introduced but Scotland Yard "really don't want more deaths".

The Met is keen to support a trial on rental e-scooters as they would be "a bit safer and more compliant", he added.
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Red Squirrel
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« Reply #71 on: January 15, 2021, 16:56:55 »

From Bristol 247:

Quote
POLICE PRAISE E-SCOOTER TRIAL AFTER FEARING 'TWISTED METAL AND BODIES SCATTERED ALL OVER THE HIGHWAY'

Police chiefs have been won over by the region's e-scooter trials after initially fearing 'twisted metal and bodies scattered all over the highway', it has been revealed.

Avon & Somerset Constabulary traffic management unit boss Richard McKiernan told a remote meeting that he had expected carnage on roads and pavements during the West of England Combined Authority's (WECA» (West of England Combined Authority - about)'s) pilot project.

Instead it has been a 'policing non-event' and he has been 'massively reassured' by the trial, which metro mayor Tim Bowles says will become vital in how we move around the region for generations to come.

...continues
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TonyK
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« Reply #72 on: January 15, 2021, 20:26:39 »

From Bristol 247:

Quote
POLICE PRAISE E-SCOOTER TRIAL AFTER FEARING 'TWISTED METAL AND BODIES SCATTERED ALL OVER THE HIGHWAY'

Police chiefs have been won over by the region's e-scooter trials after initially fearing 'twisted metal and bodies scattered all over the highway', it has been revealed.

Avon & Somerset Constabulary traffic management unit boss Richard McKiernan told a remote meeting that he had expected carnage on roads and pavements during the West of England Combined Authority's (WECA» (West of England Combined Authority - about)'s) pilot project.

Instead it has been a 'policing non-event' and he has been 'massively reassured' by the trial, which metro mayor Tim Bowles says will become vital in how we move around the region for generations to come.

...continues

I read that too, and thought it grounds for measured optimism. I can't imagine how it will pan out in the future. A limited experiment during a prolonged quiet spell with a few hundred machines owned by a monopoly is one thing. Upscaling that to a few thousand, and letting people use the scooter they bought on EBay to cut through a dark, rainy rush hour in the run-up to Christmas may prove to be a horse of a different colour.
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johnneyw
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« Reply #73 on: February 20, 2021, 16:40:01 »

I don't know what the overall take up is currently like in Bristol but since a couple of e-scooter hubs appeared fairly near my house, they have become a frequent sight on the roads in my locality.  The clientele seem to be overwhelmingly in the under 30 age group and so far, they seem to be combining successfully with the rest of the road users in the Redland/Bishopston/Westbury Park locales where Johnneyw Towers is located.
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« Reply #74 on: February 21, 2021, 08:24:55 »

Brave or foolish users in London
https://twitter.com/MPSRoyal_Parks/status/1357854916677693446/photo/1
Wouldn't last long with the pot holes in Reading
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