Quick scoot into the CBD

New ride service pledges to collect scooters each night

ZIPPING into the CBD on an electric scooter capable of almost 25km/h could be a possibility if international provider Lime acts on its plan for Geelong.

The company, offering the user-pay hiring of electric scooters in Paris and California, is considering Geelong in its expansion into Australia.

“We’ve seen significant popularity surrounding these scooters. It seems that it’s a form of transport people are comfortable with,” Lime city launcher George Morrison said.

The company is completing due diligence but says it will consider placing scooters near train stations, bus stops and carparks on the CBD fringe.

“That will allow people to park a little outside the CBD and perhaps scootering in,” Mr Morrison said.

The scooters, which have a range of up to 48km, are hired and paid for through an app, and charged away from base stations by the company or “juicers” overnight.

“We call on a crowd-sourced independent contractor model who we affectionately call ‘juicers’. They’ll participate in the collecting, recharging and distributing of the scooters,” Mr Morrison said.

He said the scooters would be GPS tracked and operate within a “geofenced” area to prevent vandalism similar to what happened with oBikes in Melbourne — many of which ended up in the Yarra River.

“The scooters are put on the ground about 7am and the entire fleet is picked up off the

street by between 8 and 10pm,” Mr Morrison said. “We hope that this will be one of the key factors that will differentiate this model to previous operations in Victoria.

“A lot of the vandalism with the bikes occurred in the night (but) all our scooters are off the street by the evening time.

“It’s in our interest to get the scooters back into the warehouse or into people’s homes where they are charged and then back on the street.”

He said initially the scooters would be used on footpaths but hoped regulations would force them to be ridden in bike lanes.

“Laws only change when a deserving enough catalyst arrives. We hope that (the authorities) understand this is no longer a toy, it is a highly capable form of transport,” he said.

“We will be able to connect people, improve accessibility and, ultimately, remove congestion.”

Mr Morrison said Lime could set up scooters in Geelong within months.