London rental e-scooter trial

I don't live in one of the boroughs but see e-scooters of both types daily. They go too fast, rarely have road skills, endanger pedestrians and drivers and seem to have pleasure in annoying others. I often see scooters with 2-up, the 2nd person a child, and often see children riding alone.

Parents seem to use them to collect of deliver school pupils.

There are 3 hire scooters in my short road at the moment, 2 on the pavement and one in the gutter. 2 of them have been there a number of days and our pavements aren't wide.

Owned scooters are a considerable nuisance too. Much the same as above applies to e-bikes

I just want to say that we are absolutely blighted by inconsiderate e-scooter riders, e-bike riders et al. My wife is blind and has so many problems with bikes and rental scooters dumped on the pavement you wouldn't believe it. She's had to walk into the road to get around them. Can you imagine? She has been hit, her guide dog has been nearly hit. I've nearly been hit so many times and my 5 year old son has been nearly hit. They ride on the pavements, they blast through red lights and over the green man crossing so frequently it's just awful. On paper it's all great, less traffic and pollution etc., but many riders are just so thoughtless and reckless. But it doesn't matter what rules are brought in if they're not enforced. But I suppose someone is making money out of it and that's all that matters these days. But are they making money? Everywhere you go you can hear the clack-clack of a Lime bike that has been tampered with to be free...

I disagree with allowing any e-scooters to be used on public highways in London.

The riders are very exposed and rarely wear helmets or high-visibility clothing. There are no number plates to allow users who break the rules to be traced. Riders place themselves in great danger riding on London roads (even on roads where the 20 mph limit is observed).

This leads many scooter riders to ride on the footpath forcing pedestrians to make way and placing vulnerable pedestrians (children and the elderly) at great risk and dissuading them from walking.

This rental scheme is a dangerous experiment as it encourages e-scooter usage in London. The supply and use of e-scooters, both rental and 'private' should be banned as soon as possible.

ALL e-scooters are a nightmare! Often driven recklessly, parked carelessly. Riders seem not to have any instincts for safe road use, other road users, pedestrians or public transport. ALL e-scooters should have number plates. Riders must be insured and, ideally, licensed. You 

I think e-scooters are very dangerous, and their use should be discouraged not encouraged. They are too fast, unlicensed, and it's not compulsory to wear helmets. I would strongly urge TFL not to continue their use after the trial.

Even normal scooters are often ridden in an unsafe manner by adults and children with no thought of other pavement users.  

My borough is not in the trial scheme but I see three or four of them daily locally. They move from the pavement to the road to avoid being held up at traffic lights or queues with no care for others walking or driving. I have never seen any rider on the trial bikes or illegal bikes wearing a helmet.

I have not heard or seen of any rider being stopped locally. Any illegal e-scooter should be crushed.

Although this survey is about e-scooters, I have similar feelings about e-bikes.

Normal bikes should be encouraged as these are good for the individual's health and the environment. However most roads are not designed to accommodate both bikes and cars/vans/lorries together making safely passing a bike almost impossible. Roads need to be widened or specific lanes created for bikes for everyone's safety.

I tried a Lime rental e-scooter in Docklands a few years ago.  It was a nightmare because of the geo-fencing.  I'm guessing the GPS didn't work properly amongst the skyscrapers in Docklands, or maybe the particular scooter I rented was faulty.  As I was riding on the road in traffic, the scooter would frequently slow down or stop because it wrongly thought I was in a "go slow" area or a "no go" area such as a park.  This was extremely dangerous for me. 

I only wanted to try it out for 10 minutes, but then I was unable to park it and stop the rental because you can only do that in an approved bay, and again the scooter wouldn't recognise when I was in a bay.  I had to ride around for about half an hour trying multiple bays before I was able to park the scooter.  There was no customer support phone option, and I couldn't just "abandon" the scooter in a bay without properly ending the rental as I would be charged.

Geofencing shouldn't be allowed until the technology is bullet-proof.  If the trial forces rental companies to use geofencing, you're setting up the trial to fail.

I think more priority needs to be given to setting the standards for personally-owned scooters and making them legal.   I would only trust a scooter I owned and took care of, rather than a rental scooter in future. 

TfL and others have banned e-scooters on trains etc because of the fire risk from illegal scooters with no safety standards.  As part of licensing legal personal scooters, the govt needs to set safe battery standards so that safe scooters can be allowed on public transport.

All motorised vehicles are potentially dangerous in the wrong driving hands. e-Scooters have been brilliantly innovated out of 'green vehicular need' and are very much an answer to promote alongside bicycles and non-motorised scooters not to mention rollerblades and skateboards which folk also use to get about on often with a nonchalance and an air of joie de vivre following in their wake as they sail elegantly along the varied Kings's highways and byways. So many young people are drawn to the freedom of movement e-scooters afford. Councils and all should be going out of their way to facilitate e-transport in all its forms.

Escooters being driven on pavements actually make me less likely to walk.

Escooters are literally a waste of space and ridden extremely dangerous. 

Expand the Santander Cycles into Zone 2 all around London and get these dangerous moron rockets off the streets and pavements. 

As a motorist and a cyclist but mainly as a pedestrian I find that very often  e scooters are a danger to others as well as users. There is not an official trial in Croydon but I see many illegal e scooters on our streets. Personally I would prefer that they are not introduced in London although they may be seen as a ‘green’ option. 

My experience of rental scooters and bikes in London is mainly negative. I see scooters being ridden on pavements, down the wrong way in one way streets,  through parks, without helmets and often by under 18’s. I also see them left untidily and often fallen over. I think they are too heavy for a city where pedestrians can be hit. They are favoured by young people who ride them in unsafe ways.

e-scooters pose a real threat to pedestrians. They are often ridden recklessly. Riders should have a licence and possess full insurance. Failure to have either should be an offence, with a minimum £2000 fine.

Riders quite frequently disregard the safety of pedestrians by riding on pavements and/or the wrong way on our streets.  This is damaging the walkability of our city as it making everything that bit more unpredictable.  The scooter parking bays near us are often a mess - with scooters strewn around in and out of the bays. It would be wonderful if trackers could be placed in the rental scooters and bikes so that user behaviour can be logged and non-adherence to highway code and anti-social behaviour dealt with.

I think e-scooters are a good thing for London.  They add to other options for active travel and are generally safe, although I know some users are inconsiderate.  
I do not understand why someone needs a driving license to hire one when it is not necessary for an electric bike?  As far as I am aware, it is not a legal requirement to have a driving license to ride a bike or operate a scooter on the road. A bank card is all that is needed for financial security to hire bikes.  Why put up more barriers for people to get around?  
I am a member of the Santander scheme and use the bikes almost every day.

64 year old female living in Westminster.

The big problem I see with e-scooters is that they are routinely being ridden by young teenagers who of course have no licence.  Even 12 miles an hour in and out of pedestrians can be dangerous, especially when ridden carelessly by young, unauthorised riders 

Banning private e-scooters is a hypocrisy, and police raids against them are a waste of taxpayers’ money. Let people ride their own devices, and you won’t need unsightly piles of  crap scooters on the pavement.

E-scooters and e-bikes are a great concept but there need to be stronger rules in place for riding, perhaps a basic safety licence before rental as there are so many accidents or near accidents and people are so irresponsible and thoughtless with where they leave them. Sadly that is current acceptable human behaviour and there is very little concern for others, so I don’t know what can be done about that.

All escooters and ebikes hires need a sensor to see if it is upright or fallen over,  along with a geo location sensor,  monitored *automatically* by their operators.

All fallen over scooters/bikes then need a Service Level agreed to reduce footways being blocked to disabled and wheelchair users either because scooter/bikes are fallen over, or if too many have accumulated or in a sensitive area.

We need a new Service Levels that monitor the concentration of ebikes and escooters by hire company, and combined. Areas at risk of multiple abandoned escooters/bikes (eg outside transport hubs, station entrances, or narrow footways) need "geo fencing" conditions applied. These conditions will allow thresholds of how many escooters/ebikes are safe within the geo fenced area and trigger for automatic removal of bikes/scooters.

I disagree with the e-scooter scheme as many use the pavement and not the road making life dangerous for pedestrians. I think they shd be banned from all streets in London. Why are they even considered a form of active travel — yet using the bus isnt? TFL want us to live in lalaland ignoring the fact that by starting these e-scooter schemes TfL have encouraged the illegal use of e-scooters by others on all our pavements. Here in Enfield they are regularly riding at speed on pavement of zigzagging in traffic.  TfL wd like us to think there is no connection between these illegal riders and their regulated schemes but I believe the existence of one has enabled the other. Stop it now. The police do not have enough resources to seize illegal scooters. They ahd not be considered a form of active travel, more a health hazard because they cause injury and fear for pedestrians thereby discouraging walking. 

Scooter and dockless bike schemes are a good idea in PRINCIPLE to get people around the city - although neither is ACTIVE travel.  However as many other have said the problems with them are caused by the selfish and illegal behaviour of users in terms of where they ride, how they ride and where the park.  There is no enforcement against dangerous and illegal use (same with cyclists) and no consequences if you park the bike/scooter selfishly.  Evey rental bike/scooter has a unique identifier.  There should be legislation that allows Councils to fine the company for those that are parked outside the appropriate bay and/or causing an obstruction.  The operator can then pass it to the last user (they know who parked it in that location).  This would, like PCN's for cars, reduce the level of issues.