Council will next week consider if the share hire e-scooter trial in Greater Bendigo should be extended for another 12 months.
The City of Greater Bendigo appointed Beam Mobility (Beam) following a public Request for Quote process to operate the trial until May 23, 2025 at no cost to the City.
The trial was developed in consultation with the City to assess the success of shared hire e-scooters as an alternative mode of transport for residents and visitors.
Beam has been operating a small trial area in urban Bendigo to provide better links between precincts and encourage a shift away from cars for shorter trips.
The purple e-scooters are only available for hire between 5am and 11pm, 7 days a week. The maximum speed limit is set at 20km/h, and 15km/h in some busy areas, and e-scooters are only allowed to ride on roads, bicycle lanes, and shared cycle paths in line with Victorian road rules.
It is illegal to ride e-scooters on footpaths and significant penalties apply. The Victorian Police enforce fines.
Manager Strategic Planning Anthony Petherbridge thanked community members and external stakeholders who provided valuable feedback about the trial.
"824 people contributed to our Let's Talk Greater Bendigo survey and the results indicated mixed sentiment from the community with 66.88% expressing some level of dissatisfaction with the trial, 17.9 per cent offered solutions to improve the trial, 8.5 percent found it to be good and 6.6 per cent said it was excellent," Mr Petherbridge said.
"The City also collaborated with internal and external stakeholder groups throughout the trial to improve it. They support the proposal for a trial extension with further recommendations in place. This includes expanding the area to include Golden Square, Long Gully and White Hills to align with shared walking/cycling networks. They also want to see improved operator patrols and a faster response to incidents if the trial extends.
"The trial demonstrated that e-scooters continue to have potential as an alternative transport option that is sustainable. However, community and stakeholder feedback has informed a set of recommendations.
"A 12-month trial extension in an expanded urban Bendigo is recommended with improved trial requirements. This would allow the share hire scheme's full potential to be assessed over a larger area and incorporate important lessons from the initial trial. This phase may also explore integrating e-bikes and technological improvements for e-scooters to curb illegal footpath riding."
The feedback collected through the survey and insights from key stakeholders has contributed to the overall evaluation of the trial in a Council report. It will be presented at the next Council meeting at The Capital on Monday May 19.
