Zippy e-scooters are the thing of the future

E-SCOOTERS are booming – they are getting everywhere! I have seen them now in several residential areas, and not just young people out and about on them either. They were featured in a local TV news report. Obviously no TV news can be quite as good as the newspaper, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Apparently it is not illegal to ride a hired e-scooter on the roads, but it is illegal to ride a privately owned one on the roads. Most of the ones we see around are hired ones. Car drivers are just going to have to get used to this. Huge numbers of young people are using them, and you can see why – they cost £5 a day to hire for unlimited use, or £35 a month. This makes them far more affordable for young people than cars or motor scooters.

You can zip around the city centre and get up the hills no problem.

They save people precious time.

This trend is bound to continue. There is a huge latent need and demand. To cater for this, we will either need to allow e-scooters on to the roads as per normal vehicles (and why not?), or build extensive networks for e-scooters so people can get around along safe, separated lanes. Bristol (and other cities) need a proper, comprehensive network! Fred Smith

by email