Saw this yesterday on TV in gym.
30 days to remove about 1500 of their e-scooters from the city
Want to know what people think.
Hire E-Scooters Now Banned from Melbourne's CBD
hopper on 16/08/2024 - 14:16
Last edited 16/08/2024 - 14:31 by 1 other user
Last edited 16/08/2024 - 14:31 by 1 other user
Comments
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When I was in Europe I used a few escooters here and there. They seemed fine. No more dangerous than a bicycle. I purchased my own helmet and was cautious and courteous.
The biggest issue was people being irresponsible and parking them in the middle of the footpath. But that applies to bicycles too.
I agree there are problems, but I'm not sure banning them is the right answer?
No more dangerous than a bicycle.
I don't see bicycle riders without helmets and carrying passengers at 20km/hr on crowded footpaths in the CBD….
I guess you've never seen a food delivery rider from EASI or Ubereats? They fang it through the Sydney CBD footpaths.
If the issue is helmets then that's an issue for law enforcement. And I do see lots of bicycle riders without helmets. Do you want to ban bicycles next?
I guess you've never seen a food delivery rider from EASI or Ubereats?
They are already riding illegal vehicles so are already banned.
Yeah they are terrible. But I wouldn't refer to most of them as bicycles.
The biggest issue was people being irresponsible and parking them in the middle of the footpath
That was the smallest issue…
Speak to the doctors/nurses in the city hospitals…
Those doctors and nurses will indeed tell you that illegally modifed and illegally used e-scooters are drumming up business for them. But not so much hire ones - they are not modified and are ridden at relatively low speeds (as they are goefenced to keep them off faster roads). Also the ones in Melbourne have AEB that makes it hard to hit someone at speed.
Nope, it is the deadshit magnet effect that is the issue. "Riding on the footpath" and "just dump them anywhere" issues should be fixable as the CBD has cameras everywhere and you have the person's credit card details to fine the bejesus out of them but that would certainly need special State legislation, analogous to that for cars. The Council can't do that so found it easier to just ban 'em.
But not so much hire ones
In the CBD, the main problem is the hire ones… In the suburbs, it is mainly kids not following the law.
The Melbourne City Council can only control the ones within it's municipality.
@jv: "In the CBD, the main problem is the hire ones"
They are a bloody nuisance there, yes, mainly because there seems to have been no attempt to enforce the law there. But my point is that actual injuries from the hire scooters are few and minor, and even fewer among pedestrians.Not saying it has never happened at all, but you get a false picture of the hazard if you just lump in the many scooter-related injuries appearing in the ED. Overwhelmingly the bulk of these will be from private scooters outside the CBD.
Maybe the riders were safer, more considerate in ‘Europe’. Way too many idiots on alcohol in Melbourne city imo.
Never used these myself but it is annoying when people leave them in the middle of the footpath or whatever. I have seen a few close calls with careless people riding them too. People can walk more now which'll be good for their health so overall I think this isn't a big loss.
What if they decide to drive more?
Fantastic - they'll be stuck in gridlock instead of getting in the way on the footpath
One less tourist attraction…RIP pedestrian skittles 😢
That’s the best news and the right thing Melb council have done. E-scooters are heavy and capable of high speeds are dangerous when they share sidewalk with pedestrians! Many were injure. e-scooters are un insured and not subjected to Vic road; rules and regulations!
1) Hire e-scooters are not capable of high speeds.
2) It is illegal to ride them on the footpath in Victoria and this is enforced in the CBD.
3) They are subject to plenty of rules and regulations. They are geofenced (ie cannot get out of the CBD) so can never go playing amongst the higher speed traffic anyway.You are confusing these with the many illegally modified scooters ridden by pests around our suburbs.
I haven't seen any private scooters that are orange. It'd be pretty hard to mistake a private scooter for a hire one.
Unfortunately their geofencing doesn't detect whether they're riding on the footpaths or not.
Also, the casual riders are usually more inexperienced compared to the private owners and most of them never even rode a bike on public roads to know the law.
A worrying proportion of people who use these are using them dangerously, weaving through foot traffic on the footpath. It’s unsafe and we already know it causes numerous - and sometimes serious - accidents. Good they’re banned imo.
A better solution would have been to just enforce the existing law - its a heavy fine for ridng them on the footpath. Should be a doddle to do if the will is there as there are cameras everywhere in the CBD.
How would that realistically be doable though? Tracking minor infractions that occur hundreds of times a day and applying a fine to the right person? I feel like if that were remotely doable, they would have done that instead of banning them.
I trust Council will ban cars too, seeing as they do more damage.
Cars are actually already banned from footpaths.
Last time you saw a car driving along a footpath?
I've seen a few on Dashcam Australia, but I get your point ;)
And in Victoria so are e-scooters. They should just have enforced the law instead of banning them - they would with cars
As noted, so are e-scooters, and now they've been banned entirely. Does the name James Gargasoulas ring any bells? Don't think there were footpaths involved last year but pedestrians were again mowed down. E-scooters have some catching up to do in that regard.
If they unironically suggested this I think they would get absolutely ass-blasted by members of their own council and most of the postcode 3000 residents.
Australia is way too car centric to ban cars outright, even in one area.
Yes my post was a bit facetious which some seem to have missed. Point is the powers that be have inconsistent levels of tolerance.
Good change imo.
Scooter users are absolute (profanity) heads. They leave them in the middle of the footpath, weave in and out of foot traffic dangerously and are generally just morons.
This is on scooter users being assholes more than the government being dictatorial.
Scooter users or pickup truck users?
Different vehicle size, same stupidity size
Fair enough.
Geez i hope they do this in Canberra soon too. Scooters dumped on sidewalks, in front of shop doors, nature strips etc, riding through plaza areas at speed. They are a great idea but too many inconsiderate aholes use them.
makes sense. the average user base was too stupid to make it last. just the emergency departments were averaging 3 of them per night. not counting collateral damage.
Good riddance. Very happy this is happening.
The comparison that the risk of injury to scooter riders being the same is completely missing the point - the council didn't ban them because they are dangerous to the riders, they banned them because they are annoying to pedestrians. It comes down to policing.
Cars get policed externally, people get slapped down if they step out of line in cars. Even most of the Uber and whatnot car drivers have pulled their heads in. People on their own bikes self-police a whole lot, because they know they are going to cop the injuries and their vehicle will get damaged.
There is no self-policing when it's a 5-second-app-agreement rental scooter, which is exactly the same issue as the food delivery e-bikes (which tend to be rented). No accountability means of course people riding them aren't going to think twice before making an ass of themselves. Make people get a licence before they can rent them, and tie screwups to demerit points and fines, and watch the issues drop (ignoring the fact the business model relies on that lack of accountability).
Also scooters are a relatively new disrupter without the infrastructure. They built footpaths for pedestrians and roads for vehicles. Cyclists had this issue but they have been around for longer so a lot of places whether it be roads or footpaths have got a cycle space. Scooters have to either create their own space or share one of the other spaces, looks like no one wants them in their space. Same issue will happen with other new transport options in the future like hoverboards.
Are they going to get rid of those delivery riders with their illegal electirc motorbikes too? If no one's going to enforce the rules they should revoke them so I can get one too, and remain legally ok.
How are you supposed to indicate turns on a scooter without falling off? It's pretty easy on a bike and quite important, so I don't think they should be allowed to use bike infrastructure with no ability to effectively inidicate.
it's a ruse to get the incumbent deputy, now mayor, the moderate vote so he gets over the line. as soon as election's done, the state govt he's in lock-step with will 'overrule' him wink wink nudge nudge. scooters will be back in no time. he becomes mayor, state govt gets a friendly, greens party sees the premier as a hero for their scooter brigade. she gets all legislation passed and their green preferences to get her over the line come state election.
he had years to stop this yet did nothing, until there was an election.. it is pure self interest.
GOOD!!! Such an inconvenience with the $hitheads riding these and leaving them everywhere on already crowded cbd streets.
hoping to see some strict rules for the delivery drivers on ebikes as well. They ride like crazy af
GOOD (profanity) RIDDANCE.
Less trauma-related injuries from this trash in our PUBLIC FUNDED hospitals. See links above from jv.
Yes, if you pay tax in Australia, you were paying to treat/fix the (profanity) who get injured and hospitalised from this.
Every tax-payer should be happy with this. This is a WIN for all of us.
Sounds like another day in the nanny state.
Wonder if Victorian's miss getting locked up and calling Dan daddy.
Will Adelaide follow suit? One wizzed past me yesterday and I had no idea it was there. I could have walked into it without thinking.
All of Melbourne should be designed like Copenhagen. 49 percent of people ride a bike to work there because they take safety seriously.
I read that scooters on footpaths is illegal in NSW, and they are only allowed on private property. Is this right? Means people riding are breaking the law but no one is enforcing and unlike regos cannot report unless there is an incident and they their either don't run away or you detain them.
I think that the e-scooter/bike can be provided to the owner, with unrestricted speed, if the owner “promises” to only ride it on private property. What a joke!
But for hire scooters you CAN track the offender down pretty easily - to hire it they used an app which records their phone number and their credit card number, and the scooter itself has geotracking. It would take special legislation though.
I'm quite happy for rental e-scooters to be banned. They should do it everywhere. Many people have a tendency to be very irresponsible when it comes to scooters that they rent and do things like leaving them in dangerous locations, throwing them into rivers and streets, and using them as a way to get around while drunk and getting into accidents with pedestrians.
If they were scooters that they actually owned then I think people would be more responsible with them, or it would at least limit the number of times they could throw an e-scooter into a river before running out of money.
The media also seems like there are two equal sides. I think most people want them banned. This is because almost everybody has been a pedestrian on a footpath at some stage and has seeing them whizzing recklessly past them or left as an obstruction. You cannot say a collision is unlikely when you have already experienced near misses.
Seems like few people actually adhere to the rules governing e-scooters and e-bikes. I followed a pair of teenagers chasing a car doing about 75kph. They either need to be registered at the owner’s expense or banned completely. The teens riding these illegally are learning sh!t habits for when they drive(as if they need more bad habits!)
Aren't these speed locked?
Generally all motors for e-bikes and e-scooters sold in Australia are speed-limited or generally required to not be used on public roads. But there are methods of modifying the software on the motors to remove the speed limits. It may reduce the lifespan of the motor but it is possible.
What a clown.
Good riddance. Horrible for public health. We are already far too obese.
Australia the nanny state, keeping people in cars and away from public transport.
Are they going to auction them off?
I wish they would ban them in Brisbane too. When they came out I enjoyed using them and rode them quite a lot. I think back then people were more courteous because they were something new and exciting.
Bring us to 2024 and nobody cares about other people or the laws. These days all you see are people breaking the law. Riding without helmets, two on one scooter, speeding. The fact that people have actually died using these things well I see no reason to keep allowing them.
Every single day I see at least 5 people riding without a helmet. EVERY, SINGLE, DAY.
Wow, didn't realise e-scooters could go at 100km/h. That means they don't even belong in bike lanes. Roads are the most suitable place for that kind of speed but they'll be on the losing end in any crash. The same goes for motorbikes though so I think it's somewhat disingenuous to ban one but not the other.
They didn't really enforce any rules as to whether they should be on the footpath, road, bike path- people are zooming down the footpaths too quickly on these. I almost got wiped out by someone on one in the cbd when I was 8 months' pregnant, as they didn't slow down approaching a pedestrian crossing at an intersection and I was walking straight ahead- before I could even look to my left they came out of nowhere. Too many idiots around unfortunately who don't know how to ride them safely.
I liked the concept of the e-scooters when they were first brought out. But like most things; the minority ruin it for the majority.
exactly.
Only used a few times but it was very useful when you dont have any other transport options. for example i had get to a station with was 25 minute walk or a 20 min detour via train to change in a city station whereas i just found a scooter and was there in 5 minutes.
Good - they seem exclusively used by drunk kids
I know a thing or two about what's going on.
to be clear, the Shared eBIKES are NOT being banned. this only eSCOOTER and only for the City of Melbourne, not for Yarra, Port Phillip or Ballarat.
After October, new rules will come into effect, likely lifting the ban under a state-wide scheme.
There is a Council Election on 26 October.
So effectively, it is about a 2 1/2 month ban for political grandstanding so City of Melbourne politicians can show how tough they are for "banning" the eScooter menace.
A very high propotion of eScooter riders ARE a menace.
However this is also the fault of local councils, majority-control councillors and VicRoads and the eScooter companies for not being able to reign in this behaviour with Enforcement, Pavement detection, safe bike lanes to contain them, per-minute billing model where eScooter riders have to pay for the time it takes to unclip the helmet, put it on, take a photo, wait at red lights, take helmet off, clip it back on, fiddle with phone to end it (there is an economic incentive to ride recklessly to save money). There are whole bunch of changes not coming soon enough.
Authorities could be setting up footpath cameras to take photos of Scooters equipped with RFID on the scooter which trigger the camera, then send the fine to the Scooter operator to pass on to the user in the first instance - but no, apparently technology solutions are too difficult, only whatever country who made the Scooters knows how to do technology, because we are nothing but luddites
Remember when the ebikes came in from that Singaporean company who naively thought that people would treat the bikes and their community with courtesy and respect?
We ended up with bikes in the Yarra and up in tress, and the company gave up and pulled out.
We never learned….
Almost got hit by two idiots riding on the footpath tonight. Yeah ban them please.
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I see electronic scooters parked at the top of stairs, across foot paths, on the road and even in wheelchair ramps. These damn scooters are like magnets for deadshits.