By Johnny Sharp

The increase in e-scooter use is chiefly due to Department of Transport trial schemes that have been conducted throughout England since 2020.

Many of the trials have been extended several times, and some local authorities have reported eye-catching statistics. For instance, there were more than 740,000 rides on Voi e-scooters in Oxford last year, estimated by the hire company to have replaced 173,000 car journeys.

Meanwhile this month, Southampton City Council announced that more than two million rides had been taken since March 2021, saving 420 tonnes of CO2 by their reckoning.

By far the largest scheme in the country is being conducted by the West of England Combined Authority. Encompassing the cities of Bristol and Bath as well as North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire, the trial is covering three times as many trips as any other region.

Kiron Chatterjee, Professor of Travel Behaviour at UWE Bristol, is leading a study commissioned to evaluate the scheme, which has now been expanded to offer e-bikes and e-cargo bikes under new operator TIER, who took over from Voi Technology last year. Chatterjee and his colleagues have found that while the trial overall has reduced travel-related carbon emissions, there were more detailed findings to consider.

Image: Kiron Chatterjee, Professor of Travel Behaviour at UWE Bristol; credit: Kiron Chatterjee

Safety still a consideration but price a plus

Last year, Chatterjee said, “We found many people in the area have adopted e-scooters into their way of life. In February 2023, 64,000 different people were using rental e-scooters in Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire each month, that’s the equivalent of seven percent of residents of these areas.”

"Previous studies, including by the Department for Transport, have found that users typically walk when they're not able to get access to a scooter, raising concerns that the technology is replacing active travel modes rather than car use."

Now although evidence of car journeys being replaced by e-scooter trips was more widespread among older users, Chatterjee feels it still has an impact on the habits of the younger demographics that constitute most users. “Even if they’re not substituting car use, they may be sustaining a non-car lifestyle for longer,” he explains. “In interviews, several respondents mentioned that they might have gone on to get a car if it hadn’t been for the e-scooter scheme.”

He adds that while “no one’s exclusively using scooters”, instead users are “blending in” the use of e-scooters with other sustainable transport methods. “They’re multimodal,” he says. “[As well as] using cycling, walking, buses, [etc].”

Although some have raised concerns around the safety of e-scooters, Chatterjee’s research found nearly seven in 10 users said they feel safe while riding and almost half think that e-scooters contribute to their wellbeing. 

However, the perception that it’s a risky form of transport might help explain why the survey found that in the first two years of the scheme, 49 percent of all rides were made by 18 to 24-year-olds, and male riders outnumbered women by 2.8 to 1.

“Users tend to be younger adults,” he explains, “And unfortunately, the ratio of men to women is around three rides to one. It’s rather similar to the problem we've seen with cycling.”

Price will also be key to attracting users to switch, a factor Chatterjee’s team found coming into play during the ongoing cost of living crisis. “There were indications that price sensitivity meant [users] could go either way – depending on whether it's relatively affordable against the bus.”

It is still illegal to ride a privately owned e-scooter on public land, even if the strength of enforcement varies from region to region. So, if the growth of unregulated models continues to be limited by legislation, the rise of e-scooters is only likely to be as fast as the trial schemes dictate.

Nonetheless, all the signs are they are here to stay. As Chatterjee says in relation to the UWE report: “It shows e-scooters provide a valuable addition to the urban transport mix for many people.”

Newsletter image: TIER e-scooter in Bristol; credit: Shutterstock.