Hundreds more e-scooters will soon be available for hire in York, as City of York Council agreed to expand the trial project.
Electric bikes will also be added to the rental scheme and the area where e-bikes and e-scooters can be used will be increased to include almost anywhere within the outer ring road, A1237.
The e-scooter trial was launched in September 2020 by private company Tier in partnership with City of York Council and is due to last for one year initially.
It started with around 100 e-scooters – but is now set to be expanded to 700, plus electric bikes.
The e-scooters have been hailed as a success in York, with Dave Atkinson from the council saying they have been rolled out slowly to ensure any issues can be resolved before the scheme is expanded.
He said: “This has been a really successful trial. We weren’t one of the first adopters but we were an early adopter.
“There has been some frustration from some users in terms of not being able to move outside the geofenced area. That was a deliberate move to make sure there was a level of control and that the trial was done in the safest way.”
E-bikes backed
One of the key concerns at the start of the trial was that the e-scooters may be left outside their marked parking zones, but a council transport meeting heard the vehicles were parked correctly in more than 99 per cent of cases.
The e-scooters have been well used, the meeting heard, with 3,822 trips taken in the first six weeks of the trial and no incidents involving someone being injured had taken place in that time.
The Department for Transport-backed trial will be extended to Clifton, Rawcliffe, Southbank, Fulford and Heworth by the end of February.
By March, most of the city within the outer ring road would be accessible by e-bike or e-scooter under the Tier scheme.
E-scooters are available for hire at both universities and the hospital, as well as other sites across the city centre.
York Cycle Campaign backed the plan for e-bikes. Cllr Andy D’Agorne said blind and partially sighted groups must be made aware of new parking locations for the bikes and scooters.
He added that the expansion is a “very welcome move forward” saying it provides a “sustainable transport option for our residents and visitors”.