To think the Escooter company/companies should bear some responsibility?

[Keyansier]

For contributing to towns looking so tatty lately? I can't be the only person who has noticed absolutely loads of Escooters just randomly dumped in the streets. I know that's the point of them and they eventually get picked up but there's loads of them and it makes us look like a third world country or the wild wild west or something. AIBU to think they should have to pay some sort of compensation to someone (perhaps local councils) for us public to have to put up with having to look at it? I'm not sure if it's one company or multiple but it/all should bear responsibility.

[emmathedilemma]

They're illegal to use on anything but private land in Scotland although that doesn't seem to stop people riding them on the roads and pavements but I was shocked at how the hire ones in Newcastle just seemed to be dumped here there and everywhere and were definitely blocking the pavement and cycle lanes.

[beingsunny]

We have e bikes in sydney, so a bit like Boris bikes in London but a cheap version with nowhere to actually park them,

They have been littered all over the city and suburbs, thrown into bushes, down hills, on the conservation strips by roads. Apparently the companies who own them don't care because the actual cost of them is around $3 for production.

There have been communities petitioning to have them removed, a nice idea but poorly managed and lacking any proper investment as a piece of infrastructure.

[Beees]

I don't think the OP worded her initial post well but in some parts of the country they absolutely are just abandoned in the middle of pavements and discarded anywhere and everywhere. The council where I live like many others has authorised a scheme of these scooters and they are everywhere.

There are now some designated places to leave them but it's very rare they are actually left there and these were definitely an afterthought as they didn't appear until many months after the scooters did.

I've lost count of the amount of times I've stopped to move a pile of them out the middle of the pavement. What is more frustrating here is that the police regularly have days where they target people using private scooters and confiscate them because they are not allowed to be used in public places but at least these scooters are taken home at the end of the day and not left blocking pavements and cluttering the city centre and surrounding towns.

[TwoLeftSocksWithHoles]

'wild, wild west' eh?

I rather like the image of Clint Eastwood on an e-scooter in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Or The Long Ranger and Tonto on e-scooters whilst a posse trail along behind on Boris Bikes.

It reminds me of the Monty Python sketch set in Elizabethan time on mopeds.

[GrumpyPanda]

@Vulpine

As a mode of transport they are less problematic than cars

True in a general sense but completely besides the point since they're not replacing car journeys. Rental scooter usage has actually been studied in a number of places. Turns out scooters are primarily used in situations where users would otherwise have a, walked or b, used public transit. So even without the parking issue, their net environmental impact is squarely negative.

[EllieQ]

@Keyansier

No they are randomly dotted around, that's my point. There aren't parking spots because someone who is using one to get to X isn't going to go to Y to "take it back" and then still have to get to X. That wouldn't make any sense to them.

The e-scooter hire systems that I’m aware of allow you to pick up a scooter from one parking spot and return it to another, so you don’t have to take it back to the place you started from. You can’t end your booking unless you return it to a designated parking spot, so if you just dump the scooter, you’re still being charged for it.

Where do you live that presumably has a different system?

[SoupDragon]

@GrumpyPanda

True in a general sense but completely besides the point since they're not replacing car journeys. Rental scooter usage has actually been studied in a number of places. Turns out scooters are primarily used in situations where users would otherwise have a, walked or b, used public transit. So even without the parking issue, their net environmental impact is squarely negative.

I would absolutely use one instead of my car for short journeys but that doesn't work with rental ones as there are none near my house (or in my town at all in fact).

[AutumnCrows]

@EllieQ

The e-scooter hire systems that I’m aware of allow you to pick up a scooter from one parking spot and return it to another, so you don’t have to take it back to the place you started from. You can’t end your booking unless you return it to a designated parking spot, so if you just dump the scooter, you’re still being charged for it.

Where do you live that presumably has a different system?

One place is Newcastle upon Tyne, @EllieQ. The sad saga is outlined here:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-56222448

It was a very botched introduction, just like the Mobikes previously.

"The Mobike scheme in Newcastle and Gateshead, had to be scrapped in 2019 after a number were set on fire, abandoned or thrown into the River Tyne."

[Beees]

Where do you live that presumably has a different system?


From personal knowledge you can and people regularly do leave an escooter anywhere in the following places. I'm sure this list is not 100% conclusive.

Liverpool
Nottingham
Birmingham
Peterborough
Derby
Parts of North Devon
Cambridge
Bristol

[Wichit]

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles lol!

"Get off your scooter and drink your milk."

[FatKyle]

They're scattered everywhere where I live. Someone dumped one behind my car on the driveway the other day. I had to drag it out of the way so I could move the car. It was surprisingly heavy.

[JennyForeigner2]

@AutumnCrows

One place is Newcastle upon Tyne, @EllieQ. The sad saga is outlined here:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-56222448

It was a very botched introduction, just like the Mobikes previously.

"The Mobike scheme in Newcastle and Gateshead, had to be scrapped in 2019 after a number were set on fire, abandoned or thrown into the River Tyne."

The myriad restrictions on where and when they can be used and the reduced speed and blackout zones really make them a pain to use in Newcastle. If you are just pottering round Jesmond they are fine, but if you want to head down to the Quayside (for example) you can find them shutting down or being limited to something like five miles per hour if they get confused and think that you are in an adjacent street where they cannot be used.

[Vulpine]

I know people who use them instead of cars.

[EllieQ]

Thanks @AutumnCrows and @Beees - I’m really surprised there are so many places where you can just leave the scooters anywhere rather than in a parking spot. I’m in York, and as I said, you have to return them to a parking bay to end the journey and stop being charged. I’ve only seen a couple of abandoned scooters in the couple of years the hire system has been in place.

[Somanysocks]

In Chelmsford people leave them willynilly.

[OldTinHat]

Where I am, they have to be returned back to a dedicated parking bay otherwise you get a huge fine on your account. And you have to have an account and upload your driving licence number to use one.

[MajorCarolDanvers]

Has anyone else seriously not noticed them everywhere lately?

There are not everywhere

There are large parts of the UK where they are still not legal to use on public roads.

They are only prolific in pilot areas.

Everywhere else they 'should" only be used on private roads.

[VitaminX]

We had a few teething problems with e-scooter parking (or rather not parking, as you say). The companies themselves campaigned to make users more aware of the need to leave them in a responsible place where they are not blocking a pavement or a path. You would think this should be bloody obvious, but people clearly take time to get used to new things.

I know for one company you have to send a photo of the scooter parked at the end of the ride to encourage you to think about whether you've chosen a good spot. And they also thought about introducing fines for users who had parked irresponsibly, but they haven't done that yet - I suppose it's a last resort option as they don't want to put off customers.

Anyway, I've noticed a huge improvement in e-scooter parking. The campaigning seems to have worked. You'll see the odd one left in a stupid place (just as you see the odd car parked incredibly badly) but it's very much the exception.

I think they are very useful and definitely have a role in reducing car usage, which should be a goal for all sensible communities. And of course you should be able to leave them near your destination rather than in special parking bays - that just dramatically reduces their usefulness making people more likely to choose a car. The UK is rather backwards and behind the times with all non-car transport (apart from walking I suppose) and the national approach to e-scooters is no exception there. It's a very solvable issue that you are describing.

[Keyansier]

@MajorCarolDanvers

Has anyone else seriously not noticed them everywhere lately?

There are not everywhere

There are large parts of the UK where they are still not legal to use on public roads.

They are only prolific in pilot areas.

Everywhere else they 'should" only be used on private roads.

I think we've already established that they are not "everywhere" as in 'all parts of the country' but in some parts of the country they are indeed "left everywhere".

[JennyForeigner2]

@Keyansier

I think we've already established that they are not "everywhere" as in 'all parts of the country' but in some parts of the country they are indeed "left everywhere".

Not in London. It was probably inevitable that some people in the provinces though wouldn’t be able to behave better.

[Keyansier]

@JennyForeigner2

Not in London. It was probably inevitable that some people in the provinces though wouldn’t be able to behave better.

I didn't mention London

[MyNameIsAngelicaSchuyler]

You can’t leave them anywhere in Bristol, they have to be returned to a designated parking spot or you can’t end the journey and will continue to be charged.

sounds like other cities need to introduce the same rules.

Op, your use of ‘third world country’ is extremely offensive.

[ChairOfInvisibleStudies]

@MyNameIsAngelicaSchuyler

You can’t leave them anywhere in Bristol, they have to be returned to a designated parking spot or you can’t end the journey and will continue to be charged.

sounds like other cities need to introduce the same rules.

Op, your use of ‘third world country’ is extremely offensive.

In that case the company have chosen some truly appalling 'designated parking spaces'. I'm thinking, for example, of the raft of them constantly blocking the pedestrian/cycle access between Cheltenham Road and Sydenham Road, or the huge collection cluttering the nice new shared use path down Castle Street.

[ChairOfInvisibleStudies]

I'm just going full rant here. I'm massively pro sustainable transport. I'm a fully paid up member of Sustrans, I consider my primary modes of transport to be walking or cycling, then bus or train. Although I do own a car, it's rarely used. I hate that our society is so car dominated and car centric. And yet, despite having put my money where my mouth is for the last 15 years in terms of my own transport choices, I still find escooters an absolute pain in the arse. If someone like me isn't convinced, they're being implemented badly.

[BitOutOfPractice]

I live and work in Chelmsford city centre. While there aren’t designated parking spots, there are large parts of the city centre where you cannot leave the scooter because it will not allow you to end the journey ie continues to charge you. I cannot say I have ever seen one left on a place that has caused me a problem and I cycle and walk around the city every day.