London rental e-scooter trial

I have to agree, that the age restriction on the use of e-scooters is not enforceable. Have witnessed young children, aged 8-14 using them. They are fun but also a hazardous for pedestrians. 

The escooter might be made 'to vehicle standards' but the people riding them are not. I see very few of these official scooters being used on the road and definitely more of the unauthorised types, even seeing one on the A3 doing 50+mph, ridden by someone who might have been visible in his orange worker's outfit but definitely wouldn't have survived if he'd been in an accident with a car as he wasn't wearing a helmet - the least of his worries, as an impact with a car at 50mph would have seen him scattered across both sides of the A3! 

Whilst I agree that there should be more options available to the commuting public - bikes, escooters, public transport etc, if you're not going to police the use of fringe vehicles like escooters and ebikes, then what's the point? Not every accident is caused by a vehicle. People, by nature, are unpredictable in their actions. They criss-cross even when walking. How do you expect them not to wander when riding a rented escooter? Or not wear earphones or over-the-head cans? Then add in their hoods and they immediately cause themselves issues by restricting the two senses they need! 

I live in a borough where the rental scheme is in operation. As someone who was recently pregnant and now have a baby in a buggy, we have had many close calls with these almost hitting us while scooters are driven on pavements. They also litter the pavements which mean I have to walk on the road with a buggy to get past. We also had a well loved local sadly pass away when the scooter he hired hit a stationary car  whilst he was heading home from work. I therefore wish the scooters were not legalised 

I don't think escooters should be allowed. People just bomb down the pavement and mow over pedestrians. They should be banned, full stop.

They are so expensive to rent and not worth te trouble and chaos they cause on the streets particularly outside central. Everywhere they are strewn about parked badly and not safely being ridden particularly the smaller ones. They weave in and out without Understanding rules of filtering , jump red lights and cause chaos on roads and I see a lot of them being ridden in pavements causing distress to pedestrians.

Completely against these and think these shoud be banned along with stronger enforcement of the ban of privately owned escooters.
 

They seem to be facilitating crime, are a hazard for those who are visually impaired and are completely at odds with the supposed drive for a healthier society. In a city as walkable as London, these serve no purpose. 

The e scooter scheme needs to be complemented by enforcement to get rid of illegal private escooters that are making it very dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians in London.

I've seen scooters left in the middle of the pavement or on top of benches or other unsuitable places. They block the pavement for other users, for some they can just walk around it but for others - such as those in wheelchairs/mobility scooters or with pushchairs it represents a real problem. It can often make the pavement too narrow and so even if you don't have an accessibility issue you often have to step into the road to get around them. They're a menace. The operators should be fined for any scooters not left in the right place and then pass that onto the users with repeat offenders being unable to rent them.

I agree with people whom have made a comment on the below.
 

What London.gov says are the legal requirements does not reflect with what I see as a commuter and a pedestrian when I’m walking and commuting in those boroughs.
 

The scooters in my opinion are far more of a nuisance and eyesore. It is hard enough to have to dodge a percentage of cyclists that don’t abide by the road roads and ride on the footpath or come charging behind people; the e-scooters are worse due to their quieter nature, and the people I’ve seen on them are never abiding by any rules besides their interpretation of what the rules might be. 
 

They are then always strewn on the ground, either left there by the user or have fallen down or pushed over by someone and creates such an eyesore on an already overcrowded and congested footpath or road. 
 

I would ban them:

there is no real way to ensure people under 18 don’t use them

the people riding them do so dangerously

the batteries are not environmentally friendly - people can just walk/ride a bicycle/use public transport

Scooter parking ONLY on roads.

While I have never used an electric scooter and am not inclined to support their use on the current road system because of inherent dangers, there are questions about branding the private scooters illegal. There are those who would argue, private scooters are imported or manufactured with the current UK safety standards, otherwise how are they imported and widely sold. The private scooters use the same battery and motor standards as bicycles with similar battery and motor type, so if you were to install a £30 - £50 seat on a private scooter currently deemed illegal, it would be classified as legal. Finally People who cannot afford rental costs are inclined to buy a private scooter; and there is an argument that all the fuss made about private scooters is not really about safety, but it is because they are a competition for rentals, which give councils an income from contracts with the rental companies.

Nobody is renting these things, and they're not going to start. Kids are taking them, jailbreaking them or absconding with the batteries, messing around on them, and eventually throwing them into traffic or the river, just as they do with anything that isn't bolted down (and quite a few things that are). You're not going to fix teenagers, so you have to take away their means of causing problems. All of this rubbish street-blocking cycle hire app-based tripe should be banned and melted down. It's a menace.  

Honestly it wouldn't be a good idea even if teenagers magically learned to behave themselves. The pavements in London are tiny, and anywhere they widen out even a few centimetres some shopkeep will put out a sandwich board or cafe table or something else that forces us all to walk single-file. Anywhere they could possibly fit is a space better left clear.

Cut ties with your venture capitalists, fine them if they don't clear their stupid scooters and bicycles off the streets (and out of the rivers) and spend the money you'd waste continuing to try to get this damp squib off the ground clawing back our train lines from the private sector.

They ought to be banned and the funds put into added bus services

Use of bikes both rental and illegal on pavements and in busy road traffic is difficult to manage and ensure safety AND THE RIGHTS OF PEDESTRIANS. So far my observation is that bad scooter use has increased. There is a major problem with them being dumped on the pavement or left thrown down near rental sites. This is very dangerous for elderly and diasabled people. Who us policing all of this? What is the point of rules and safety measures if nobody picks up missue or illegality.

I agree with those who have commented about the bad riding habits of many renters - on pavement or riding carelessly on road - and the apparent dumping of e-scooters away from approved parking areas. Even the official parking areas are unsightly and untidy. Also, many riders appear to be under 18 and no doubt some who are over 18 don't have a driving licence. It is apparent that people are finding ways around the restrictions imposed by TfL

I am very sceptical that e-scooters make any significant contribution to decarbonisation, as most of the journeys must be short and without much baggage so they must mainly be replacing walking/cycling/public transport journeys, not car journeys. Has TfL done thorough research on what journeys are being replaced?

As a cyclist I am very aware of the dangers of being on the road amongst vehicles and an e-scooter looks very dangerous to me. The 12.5 mph speed limit is understandable but means an e-scooter rider can't keep up with the speed of traffic even in a 20 mph zone, so must be at constant risk from vehicles overtaking.

Overall my view is the trial has shown significant flaws in the concept and should not be continued.

Why have youngot a policy of renting scooters. We all know how dangerous they are riding on the pavement. Cycling included. I suggest you take steps to solve the problem, and or give the police the power to deal with it properly. Many people have been injured by them. I Hooe to see an improvement in bexley. And the same goes for cycling onbthe pavement. It needs to be strictly enforced and if they are riding the scooters on the footpath they need to be confiscated.

Hi There,

My main comment is that scooters seem to be completely unregulated, their users do not follow the Highway Code and generally break the rules of the highway (and pavements!). They appear generally to be dangerous and a hazard to themselves and other road users and attract social misbehaviour.Without regulation, enforcement and education these problems will only worsen.

These scooters make me feel like an angry old person a lot of the time because of the bad behaviour of riders. That annoys me because I like alternative eco friendly travel options. We need better control over bad riders, because these could be a good option. That said, I find the scooters quite unsafe by design (a medium sized bit of scrap at the wrong time could send you flying) and I don't think they are particularly well suited to roads or pavements. I would support them having a visible license number.