People ride escooters in Melbourne's central business district (CBD) on Aug 14, 2024. The City of Melbourne council will ban the hire escooters from the city's CBD citing safety concerns due to the bad behaviour of riders not wearing helmets, riding on footpaths, carrying more than one passenger, leading to over 860 collisions and seven fatalities in the past three years. — AFP
MELBOURNE: Melbourne has become the latest city to ban rental escooters, abruptly moving to end a trial contract with two firms after a community revolt.
After a six-to-four council vote late Aug 13, city authorities said they would give operators Lime and Neuron 30 days to rid the city centre of the two-wheeled contraptions.
Mayor Nicholas Reece – a former executive at the men's health charity Movember – backed the move and said it had popular support.
He alleged scooters had been scattered around the city "like confetti", posing a risk to the community.
For fans, escooters are a transport revolution – allowing commuters to zip around crowded cities with ease and at minimal cost.
For detractors, they are injury-inducing street litter and a hipsters' plague on peaceful pedestrians.
In just two decades, escooters have grown into a worldwide market worth tens of billions of dollars a year.
But Melbourne follows cities from Barcelona to Montreal in banning or limiting where escooters can go.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales report the growth of escooters has brought a rise in related injuries and hospital admissions, mostly from men aged in their late 20s to early 30s.
The Royal Melbourne Hospital recorded 256 escooter-related injuries in 2022.
Rental company Neuron Mobility said Melbourne's "drastic" decision was made without "proper discussion".
"We still believe that Melbourne is an excellent city for escooters," Neuron's local general manager Jayden Bryant told AFP.
"If given the opportunity, we could quickly implement a variety of measures to address many, if not all, of the councillors' concerns." – AFP
