The August Council meeting will consider the first quarterly report on the City of Greater Bendigo’s Beam e-scooter trial.
Commencing on May 23, 2024, the report states the purple e-scooters have been widely used by residents and tourists.
As of mid-July, there had been 4,333 individual riders, 13,231 trips and approximately 22,745 kilometres travelled. The average trip is around 1.72 kilometres, which takes around 11 minutes. The total number of trips per day varies between 120 and 200 on weekdays and 260-480 on weekends.
The highest usage is generally between 3pm – 6pm between Monday and Thursday, and 6pm-9pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
Manager Strategic Planning Anthony Petherbridge said the e-scooters were mostly used within the city centre.
“The City has been pleased with how the trial is progressing and Beam has been very proactive in responding to the City’s and broader community’s queries,” Mr Petherbridge said.
“From the beginning, the trial included geo-fencing, which automatically reduced the speed of e-scooters in busy areas and ensured the scooters stayed within the trial zone. Beam has willingly worked with businesses, hospitals, schools and La Trobe University to process requests.
“Complaints now average between three and four a week. Fifty-one Beam riders who have done the wrong thing have been issued warnings, mainly in relation to incorrect parking, riding without a helmet and tandem riding, three riders have been banned under Beam’s three-strike policy, and Victoria Police has also issued 17 fines and nine warnings to Beam riders.
“These are quite low numbers, when you consider the number of people that have used the service, which is really positive. Only a few complaints and reports have been about illegal parking and bad riding, so most people are using the e-scooters within the rules.
“The City will continue to work with Beam to educate riders and the community about appropriate e-scooter behaviour, however Beam has confirmed it is trialling new technology that will detect when a rider is riding on a footpath and provide instant warnings, and Beam has committed to be more vigilant with monitoring parking issues.
“There is an opportunity to understand more about why riders are choosing to ride an e-scooter and what other destinations they would like to ride to, so a survey will be introduced to capture some of this data.”
