Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 09:35 19 Mar 2024
- Potholes leave nations' roads at 'breaking point'
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 tomorrow - WWRUG AGM
23/03/24 - Trains restart - Minehead
02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber

No 'On This Day' events reported for 19th Mar

Train RunningCancelled
08:18 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
08:59 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington
09:50 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
10:41 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
16:00 Oxford to London Paddington
Short Run
07:25 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington
08:32 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa
PollsOpen and recent polls
Open to 25/03 16:00 Easter Escape - to where?
Closed 2024-03-16 Should our rail network go cashless
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 19, 2024, 09:45:40 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[185] A daily picture from my recent travels
[65] Where would you recommend for an Easter Escape?
[56] More travels ... more looking at how others do it ...
[54] M25 motorway issue: a most illuminating Twitter thread.
[49] 2024 Delays and Cancellations - North Cotswold Line
[46] Briefing on forthcoming changes - from GWR on 14.3.2024
 
News: A forum for passengers ... with input from rail professionals welcomed too
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: 1 ... 10 11 [12] 13 14 ... 18
  Print  
Author Topic: E-scooter trials - but rental only. What do members think?  (Read 60140 times)
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40648



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #165 on: January 15, 2022, 09:59:22 »

While I'm on the Active Travel section, a small point but one that irks me. Can I just point out that e-scooters are not 'active travel', and are not akin to cyclists or walkers. They are electrically powered vehicles, ...

IMO (in my opinion), E-scooters are slightly active travel, more so than driving or sitting on a train ...

Good points both.   Forum board choice borderline!   Personally, I am - just - inclined to leave the thread where it is and there's a personal element there in that using a e-scooter requires a certain physical health and I think of it as being something that I would question whether I would be fit enough to make use of, and/or could only use it over very limited distances.   As such, it goes with cycling and walking rather than a motor cycle which is borderline the other way.
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
TonyK
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6432


The artist formerly known as Four Track, Now!


View Profile
« Reply #166 on: January 15, 2022, 10:43:15 »


...there's a personal element there in that using a e-scooter requires a certain physical health...

So does sitting upright in an armchair in front of the telly with a fag in the corner of the mouth, beer in one hand and a Big Mac in the other. With fries. But I'm not advocating moving the thread, which sounds too much like hard work.
Logged

Now, please!
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40648



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #167 on: January 15, 2022, 11:24:17 »


...there's a personal element there in that using a e-scooter requires a certain physical health...

So does sitting upright in an armchair in front of the telly with a fag in the corner of the mouth, beer in one hand and a Big Mac in the other. With fries. But I'm not advocating moving the thread, which sounds too much like hard work.


Yes, but that isn't travel ... except in a virtual way to places on the telly, or in a more conceptual way towards ill health.

Thread moves are actually "silly easy" but thank you for the get-out.  There's no ideal board for tis one.
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
IndustryInsider
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 10081


View Profile
« Reply #168 on: January 15, 2022, 12:56:12 »

Yes, but that isn't travel ... except in a virtual way to places on the telly, or in a more conceptual way towards ill health.

Or time travel if you're watching Doctor Who.  Wink
Logged

To view my GWML (Great Western Main Line) Electrification cab video 'before and after' video comparison, as well as other videos of the new layout at Reading and 'before and after' comparisons of the Cotswold Line Redoubling scheme, see: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/IndustryInsider/
CyclingSid
Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1913


Hockley viaduct


View Profile
« Reply #169 on: January 15, 2022, 13:54:24 »

The grouping tends to be "Active and Sustainable Travel" which apart from the obvious active ones includes rail, bus and taxi (don't tend to agree with the latter), so e-scooters would probably come under that category? When you come to electric cars??
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40648



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #170 on: April 28, 2022, 08:48:56 »

The grouping tends to be "Active and Sustainable Travel" which apart from the obvious active ones includes rail, bus and taxi (don't tend to agree with the latter), so e-scooters would probably come under that category? When you come to electric cars??

Picking up an old question there -  and e-Scooters look like they're going to moved on from "Trial + Illegal" mode to "regulated, governed (taxed??)" mode - see Grant Shapps utterances at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61250302

The article is interesting in that it chooses the control of negatives (illegal scooter issues) in priority over the potential new era approach of having them available but with regulation or safety controls (choose which you call it) in place.
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
Marlburian
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 688


View Profile
« Reply #171 on: April 28, 2022, 10:26:51 »

Who's going to enforce any new regulations? I gather that most police forces don't turn out for shoplifting offences when the cost of the stolen goods is under £200.

Same with pavement parking, where a consultation has been going on for what seems a very long time. Already there's a formal ban on my road that is ignored, though I concede that the only notices are tiny signs affixed to random lamp-posts.

But the law did act here:=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-61243033

Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40648



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #172 on: April 28, 2022, 11:25:05 »

Who's going to enforce any new regulations?

Is it the sign of a modern and authoritarian society that there's a heavy network of rules and regulations put in to place, many of which are impractical and largely ignored, especially by those who are associates of the rule setters, but then brought into play by others for whom they offer a mechanism.

These comment could relate to anything from people who have failed to follow the Covid rules, though to those people who fail to show their railcard when purchasing tickets with railcard discounts (I have always felt pretty stupid waving a railcard at the ticket machine a my local station to satisfy their rule!!)

In other words, expect a few token, headline cases, and perhaps a couple of road / path block in high profile places to show authority to act ...

Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
TonyK
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6432


The artist formerly known as Four Track, Now!


View Profile
« Reply #173 on: April 29, 2022, 17:39:33 »


Is it the sign of a modern and authoritarian society that there's a heavy network of rules and regulations put in to place, many of which are impractical and largely ignored, especially by those who are associates of the rule setters, but then brought into play by others for whom they offer a mechanism.

These comment could relate to anything from people who have failed to follow the Covid rules, though to those people who fail to show their railcard when purchasing tickets with railcard discounts (I have always felt pretty stupid waving a railcard at the ticket machine a my local station to satisfy their rule!!)

In other words, expect a few token, headline cases, and perhaps a couple of road / path block in high profile places to show authority to act ...


There are countries where anything goes, so long as it is not expressly forbidden, and others where everything is forbidden unless it's compulsory. We seem to be somewhere in the middle.

Nobody has to carry their driving licence with them when driving a car, and a driver in car that looks roadworthy from a distance who stays within speed limits and doesn't drive like a fool is unlikely to be asked to show it. At the scene of an accident serious enough to require the presence of the police, however, it is likely to be among the first questions. I think that more widespread use of e-Scooters may lead to a similar trend of toleration unless someone gets hurt by a scooterist's actions, at which point the full might of the law will be brought to bear. If things get too out of hand, there won't be any question of banning scooters completely, the more likely option being registration, licensing and insurance requirements, and souped up models with sirens and flashing lights for police patrols to use to catch the speed merchants who tweak their own machine to above the 15.5 mph limit.

This particular genie isn't going back into the bottle. Of equal concern could be the effect on buses - Bristol's research showed that more journeys by scooter were instead of catching a bus or walking than to replace a car journey.
Logged

Now, please!
Bmblbzzz
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4256


View Profile
« Reply #174 on: April 29, 2022, 19:34:57 »

Yes. Let's stop pretending we can decide whether these things exist or not, and instead think about how we adapt them to us and us to them.
Logged

Waiting at Pilning for the midnight sleeper to Prague.
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40648



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #175 on: April 29, 2022, 20:12:24 »

Yes. Let's stop pretending we can decide whether these things exist or not, and instead think about how we adapt them to us and us to them.

I have been in Gibraltar today and it was good to see escooters in regular traffic use.   A google search took me to https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2020/05/27/new-rules-for-e-scooters-in-gibraltar-as-parking-scheme-gets-green-light/ which explains the background.  Might be a similar basis for the setting up of things in the UK (United Kingdom)?

Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7148


View Profile
« Reply #176 on: April 29, 2022, 20:39:15 »

I have been in Gibraltar today and it was good to see escooters in regular traffic use. 

So "escooters" is what scooters are called in Spanish, is it?
Logged
ellendune
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4451


View Profile
« Reply #177 on: April 29, 2022, 20:49:32 »

I have been in Gibraltar today and it was good to see escooters in regular traffic use. 

So "escooters" is what scooters are called in Spanish, is it?
Umm I didn't think that Spanish was an official language in Gibraltar
Logged
TaplowGreen
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7723



View Profile
« Reply #178 on: April 29, 2022, 22:35:32 »

Yes. Let's stop pretending we can decide whether these things exist or not, and instead think about how we adapt them to us and us to them.

I have been in Gibraltar today and it was good to see escooters in regular traffic use.   A google search took me to https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2020/05/27/new-rules-for-e-scooters-in-gibraltar-as-parking-scheme-gets-green-light/ which explains the background.  Might be a similar basis for the setting up of things in the UK (United Kingdom)?




I'll just leave this here. Many other similar examples are available.....

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/21/14-year-old-girl-dies-after-crash-with-van-while-riding-e-scooter-in-london
Logged
TonyK
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6432


The artist formerly known as Four Track, Now!


View Profile
« Reply #179 on: April 30, 2022, 09:14:22 »


Umm I didn't think that Spanish was an official language in Gibraltar

Not official, but spoken, along with English and Llanito.


This tragic incident takes us back to my points about control. An e-scooter is a motorised vehicle in the eyes of the law, and as the Travelwest website makes clear, a provisional driving licence is a minimum requirement. A 14-year old should not have been riding one on a public road, something that needs to be made abundantly clear. The case can be made that allowing use of privately owned scooters will actually make enforcement of the rules easier than is the case currently, where anything being ridden outside of the rental trials is illegal anyway, so why worry about the rest of the rules.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2022, 09:25:25 by TonyK » Logged

Now, please!
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: 1 ... 10 11 [12] 13 14 ... 18
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page