Share-hire scooters to be banned in the City of Melbourne

Hiring e-scooters in Melbourne’s CBC will soon be a thing of the past after a spate of complaints about the popular vehicles. 

Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece will move an amended motion on Tuesday at a Future Melbourne committee meeting, the Herald Sun reported. 

The motion calls for the contracts of e-scooter providers Lime and Neuron, which operate in the city, to be cancelled.

The motion is expected to be carried, with most councillors on board with the proposal.

If the move is successful, share hire e-scooters could be removed from the CBD as the early as mid-September.

The council must give the share-hire companies 30 days’ notice.  

The possible termination of the contracts does not impact private e-scooters, which will still be able to be used in the CBD and neighbouring Carlton and Southbank. 

A new host of measures had been raised recently in a report from council management to the Futures Melbourne committee meeting. 

The motion to ban all share-hire electric scooters does not impact the use of private e-scooters in the city that was introduced in April 2023 (pictured Brynne Edelsten on an e-scooter in Melbourne)

The recommendations had been made to help curb the unsafe use and dangerous driving of the share-hire vehicles. 

Some of the suggestions included limiting the number of e-scooters operating, increasing fines and introducing new exclusion zones.

But despite the possible crackdown measures, the council changed its mind on Monday after residents and businesses in the city called for the scheme to be dumped.

Former Melbourne lord mayor Sally Capp supported the share hire scheme, which has led to around 1,500 e-scooters operating in the city.

Only last week the current mayor admitted the hiring of e-scooters had been popular but also had some ‘serious issues’. 

‘I admit I was a supporter of the e-scooters when they when first started, but I am fed up with the rule breaking and seeing the scooters strewn all over the city like rubbish,’ Cr Reece said. 

He added that the e-scooters also cluttered the city’s footpaths which were a trip hazard and created ‘mobility challenges’. 

A man running for mayor in the next election said he would let e-scooters stay, but he would reduce their speeds to 12km/h (pictured men on e-scooters in Melbourne)

‘Riders continue to break the law, endangering others and themselves, creating a nuisance on our streets,’ he said.

Cr Reece added that while most of the riders ‘do the right thing’, others keep endangering not just themselves but other people. 

Former deputy lord mayor Arron Wood indicated that he’ll vote against the motion as he sees share-hire scooters as ‘a valuable part of Melbourne’s transport mix’.

‘No less than 48 hours later, we hear that the Lord Mayor may move a motion tomorrow night to tear up scooter contracts without any due process,’ he said.