Rental e-scooter evaluation published
The DfT’s long-awaited evaluation into the ongoing trials of rental e-scooters has concluded that they could provide a real alternative to other modes of transport, including cars.
Rental e-scooter trials were launched in July 2020 in 32 areas across England. It is estimated that by December 2021, 14.5 million trips had been made by users. The evaluation, carried out by Arup, NatCen and Valtech, examined how and why rental e-scooters are used, and by whom, as well as safety, mode shift, environmental and wider social impacts.
The evaluation finds evidence to suggest that as the trials have become more mature, users are seeing e-scooters less as a novelty and more as a convenient mode of transport that they could use to get to specific destinations.
This is reflected by the fact that the proportion of users shifting from private motor vehicles to e-scooters has been increasing over time, while mode shift from active modes has been decreasing. Therefore, it concludes that rental e-scooters ‘can serve as a valuable mode of transport’, something which has been welcomed by the DfT.
The evaluation also brings into focus the safety record of rental e-scooters.
