TfL has hailed the ‘progress made’ by the Capital’s trial of rental e-scooters – with more than 585,000 trips having been undertaken as part of the scheme.
Managed by TfL and operated by Dott, Lime and TIER, the London trial launched in June 2021.
It has expanded significantly over the first eight months – with the number of vehicles available to hire now standing at 3,585. The number of boroughs participating in the trial has doubled.
There are now more than 420 designated parking locations across the trial area, with plans to expand this number over the coming year to further increase parking density.
Statistics show more than 585,000 trips have now been made, covering a total of 1.6 million kilometres. Around 180,000 people have used the scheme to date and the most rides by a single user was more than 300 trips.
Meanwhile, the busiest month for the trial was October, as people returned to offices and the London Borough of Camden joined the scheme, and the most popular hour to ride an e-scooter is between 6-7pm.
TfL adds that thousands of people have used the operators’ discount schemes which make the rental vehicles more affordable for people on low incomes and with disabilities.
Helen Sharp, TfL’s e-scooter trial lead, said: “E-scooters could play an important role in ensuring a green and sustainable future for London and I’m delighted that the rental trial has exceeded the exciting milestone of half a million trips.
“We’re working closely with operators, councils and people across London to build on the success of the trial so far and we hope that even more people will be able to take advantage of the trial over the coming year.
“The anonymised data we gather is crucial and we’ll be analysing this closely so that we can learn more about the role e-scooters could play in helping people move around London sustainably.”
It has also been announced that the three operators of the scheme are researching and developing a ‘universal sound’ to help improve safety, in particular for people with visual impairments.
07 February 2022