Rental e-scooters and e-bikes could be here to stay until at least March 2022, with the number available for hire increasing to up to 1,000.
But the scheme has had setbacks – including an incident leading to minor injuries, anti social e-scooter parking and a scooter being thrown in the river.
A City of York Council report says Tier, the company that runs the hire scheme, is supporting York’s Covid recovery and has “learned lessons” from the incidents that have been reported.
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Irresponsible riding could lead to customers being banned and Tier has moved parking bays further away from the rivers after an e-scooter was thrown in.
Fewer than one in ten riders use the Tier helmets. Stickers have been added to alert users to the helmets and a pop-up has been created in the app to show people how to use them.
York has also seen a rise in people using private e-scooters, which are only allowed on private land. Tier and North Yorkshire Police are responding to the issue, the council report says.
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E-bikes were introduced in April and 893 trips were taken in the first three weeks, with the average trip length at 3.9km.
The report adds: “The slow and phased roll-out has had some impact on usage. However since expanding the service area and increasing connectivity of the city, usage has improved, and is in line with other cities of a comparable size in Europe, where e-scooters are legal to use.”
The extension of the trial will be discussed at a meeting on Tuesday.