Private e-scooters far from a smooth ride as laws play catch-up
By Tim Biggs
Many experts in urban mobility believe personal transport devices, including e-scooters, will serve an important role as society reduces its reliance on cars and other large vehicles. But progress so far has been long and complicated both legally and socially, as each Australian state has contended with how to allow their use safely on streets and roads not designed for them.
While limited trials of rented e-scooters are operated by private companies in most cities, it remains illegal to ride private e-scooters outside private property in New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
The Segway-Ninebot G2 MAX is designed for all kinds of roads and paths, depending on what’s legal where you live.
With Victoria allowing them as part of a six-month trial of new laws from April, however, more than half of the country’s states and territories currently allow you to buy your own e-scooter and use it in public. With quite a few restrictions.
Now that it’s legal in my home state, I borrowed the latest device from Segway-Ninebot for a few weeks of scooting around Melbourne’s northern suburbs, and it was both a lot smoother than I expected and a reminder that there’s a long way to go.
A speedometer is a must to make sure you’re sticking to the law. Better yet are scooters that can limit their top speed.
The five jurisdictions that allow private scooters agree on certain basic rules — such as the need for a helmet, that the rider must be at least 16, that lights must be fitted, that there can be no phone use, no passengers and no riding intoxicated — but confusingly the exact road rules differ.
Each of the five allow e-scooters on bike paths and shared paths. Victoria allows them on public roads but not on footpaths, whereas the ACT allows them on footpaths but not public roads. Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania allow them on both.
It’s generally agreed that e-scooters are not legal if they are capable of going faster than 25 km/h (Queensland is the only one that doesn’t seem to have this rule), but actual speed limits again differ. In Victoria it’s a flat 20 km/h, whereas everywhere else it’s 25 km/h on roads and bike paths, and slower on footpaths.
I found the idea of riding a scooter alongside cars on public roads a bit intimidating, but with its use on footpaths being illegal in Victoria I stuck to some quiet streets to practice, then moved to the plentiful bike and shared paths nearby.
Segway-Ninebot’s MAX G2 is quite a large scooter at more than 1.2 metres tall and around 25 kg, and is clearly designed for road use. But after the initial kick I found it no harder to balance than a bike. Your right thumb controls the throttle, while your left has access to a horn and turning signals. There’s a front brake handle, reflectors and front and backlights.
Most importantly there’s a hydraulic dampener above the front wheel and spring suspension on the back, so with a bit of practice shifting my weight I barely felt speed bumps or the transition between road and bike paths.
This is an expensive scooter at $1700, but it’s also the only one I’ve used, so I can’t speak to how much bumpier or less stable your ride would be at the lower end of the market. Commuter-class e-scooters start at around $1000, and go up to around $4000.
Swinburne University professor of future urban mobility, Hussein Dia, said making private e-scooters legal was a step in the right direction, as governments could watch their early adoption to inform decisions around reducing congestion and emissions.
“These devices can bring big sustainability benefits to our cities if they are taken seriously. They will mean that we can replace many short-distance trips using polluting private vehicles with these environmentally friendly devices,” he said as Victoria announced the extension of its trial.
“But safety must remain a top priority, and there needs to be focused media campaigns to inform the public about how they can be safely used.”
There have been reports around the world of injuries and deaths from the use of private e-scooters. However, most of these have involved underage riders, people riding without a helmet, people travelling significantly faster than the speed limits imposed by the states, or a combination of those factors.
Segway-Ninebot rates the range of this scooter at 50 km, which would easily be enough for me to commute to and from work and charge overnight (it takes around 6 hours). Though it’s important to note the actual range relies on many factors. To get that figure, the company assumed a speed of 25 km/h, a rider weighing 75 kg, an even pavement surface and an ambient temperature of 25 degrees.
I did get more than 50 km out of a charge, but I didn’t commute to work; I couldn’t divine a network of bike paths and appropriate public roads that would get me there. Victorian laws say you can’t ride on a road that has a speed limit higher than 60 km/h (and fair enough), and I’d otherwise need to ride on very busy roads filled with traffic, parked cars and trams, which I was not keen on.
The scooter has three modes that limit the speed to 12 km/h, 20 km/h and 25 km/h, and I would have used the former on the footpath through these sections if permitted, as in other states.
As nerve-wracking as it was to share space with cars and fast-moving bikes balancing on a piece of plastic, metal and battery at 20 km/h, I was fortunate to not run into any troubles at all. Even at roundabouts and intersections, I think I imagined the other drivers’ annoyance at having to wait for a scooter more than actually felt it. Though I could be wrong about that.
Scooting 30 minutes to the market and back felt like a breeze compared to walking. Yet while I enjoyed being outside and felt like I had been standing and engaging my core for a long time, it’s certainly no workout and far less exercise than cycling.
One additional complication is that you will need to carry some kind of lock with you that will secure your scooter’s specific design, and you’ll have to find somewhere out of the way to lock it. The MAX G2 does technically fold, but it remains far to big and heavy to carry with you through the shops or into a café.
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