Should we have the right to scoot?

You may have heard of Lime, the company behind electric scooters you can literally find anyway via an app and rent for a period of time. Lime has jumped on the Uber bandwagon and celebrated Uber’s headline grabbing proposed Air taxi service trial in Melbourne. 

Lime’s Director of Government Strategy & Policy, Mitchell Price said: “We are thrilled that the Victorian Government is embracing innovative technologies such Uber Air,” 

“Despite this forward thinking move to provide transport alternatives, Melbourne’s transport infrastructure is already exceeding capacity, with the Metro line not due until 2025, we need viable transport solutions now. 

“Lime scooters will allow all Melburnians to leave their cars at home, avoid congestion and use an eco-friendly and safe alternative to get to their destination,”.

“The recently announced initiative by the Victorian Government to welcome the Uber Air trial is very encouraging, but we need solutions that will have an immediate effect on the daily commute for thousands of Victorians. We call again on the Victorian Government to approve an electric scooter trial, so Lime has the opportunity to demonstrate how effective this alternative mode of micro mobility is having in cities around the world.”

As a team EFTM’s view is that Scooters are great, but that they can be a bit of an eyesore, so should be required to be left in designated areas. For example, our Dictator Trevor Long formed that view after walking around Washington DC where there are at least four or five different scooter companies!

Personally, I’ve used one in San Diego, they really are a hoot and actually get along at a fair rate of knots. There’s a couple of issues over there, like the fact no one seems to give a rats about not wearing a helmet, plus I’m not entirely convinced the lines are clearly drawn in the sand when it comes to blending Scooters with pedestrians and even motorists. Many of these Scooters are hired by tourists who aren’t exactly in the mindset to either understand of even obey regulations. 

We have Lime bikes in Sydney at present, but the Scooters are barred. In QLD there has been a trial for some time and Victoria only allow motorised Scooters that are limited to 10km/h. In some cases, they’re actually capable of 25km/h.

Either way Lime has found its way into more than 100 markets, recording 50 million rides since its inception in 2017.