Residents and visitors in Geraldton can continue renting e-scooters after the City voted to extend provider Beam Mobility’s contract for six months.
Beam’s fleet of e-scooters has been used for about 400,000 trips in the 3.5 years it has been present in the city of about 41,500 people, but the service was in jeopardy after a man fell from his rented Beam e-scooter and died in Tarcoola late on Christmas Eve last year.
However the City’s councillors in late January voted 8-1 to extend Beam’s contract for a further six months, while inviting tenders from rental e-ride operators for future contracts that were set to contain extra elements including:
- a ban on e-scooters between midnight and dawn, plus sobriety tests for trips after 8pm
- lowering the maximum speed from 25km/h to 20km/h
- reducing the fleet from 350 to 250 e-scooters
- operators to pay $1 a day per e-scooter for public education and infrastructure
- community volunteers to report errant user behaviour to the operator
Geraldton’s extension follows that of the City of Stirling in Perth’s western suburbs, which recently granted Beam a two-year license extension until January 2028.
“…these e-scooters provide a great option.”
WestCycle Active Transport Officer Tim Burns backed Gerladton’s micromobility embrace.
“We are very pleased the City of Greater Geraldton has decided to continue supporting the e-scooter share system. In regional cities that have very limited public transport, these e-scooters provide a great option,” Burns said.
“While we do not support all of the future requirements the City is considering such as reducing the size of the fleet, the addition of operator license fees will help the city to improve path infrastructure and provide some separated parking zones to help keep the footpaths clear for pedestrians.”
“In regard to fleet size, data shows for a system to be considered ‘reliable’ a user should be within a 2-3 minute walk (about 200 metres) of a scooter. If scooter density drops too low, people stop checking the app and using the service because they don’t trust a scooter will be there. Successful systems strike a balance between designated scooter drop-off zones in congested areas and parking flexibility in less populated residential areas to encourage use.”
Law changes? 33 Parliamentary Inquiry recommendations set for debate
The City of Perth and City of Vincent last year suspended their schemes after a pedestrian died after being struck by a drunken tourist riding a rented e-scooter in central Perth.
That death provoked a WA Parliament Inquiry into the use, safety and regulation of e-bikes, e-scooters and e-motorbikes that in December delivered 33 recommendations including infrastructure investment, education programs, and licensing and registration arrangements. Which of those recommendations will provoke regulation and policy changes and other actions will be debated by Parliament in the coming months.
Parliament’s first sitting day is 17 February.
