Just over six months ago, Staffordshire County Council (SCC) and Amey partnered with electric scooter providers Ginger and Zwings to launch micromobility trials in Stafford and Newcastle-Under-Lyme, as part of the £22.9m ADEPT Smart Places Live Labs programme.
Since the trial started in September 2020 with bays deployed in both Stafford and Newcastle-under-Lyme, there have been over 18,732rides taken covering a total distance of 93,676km - that’s twice around the circumference of the earth. These rides taken, when compared with car journey’s, has saved an estimated 13,066kg of C02.
The length of ride varies, with the average distance per ride being 4.9km –the longest journey taken so far however has been 38km!
Staffordshire County Council’s assistant director for connectivity and sustainability Clive Thomson said: “The SIMULATE e-scooter trial in Stafford and Newcastle has been a real success and been popular with residents in offering an alternative and environmentally friendly travel option. In addition to providing more locations for picking up and parking e-scooters across communities in both towns as the trial has progressed, we’ve partnered with the NHS at Stafford’s County Hospital and Keele University to ensure key sites are connected.
“We’d like to remind people that only e-scooters hired from Ginger and Zwings are legal on roads and cycleways and in their use is restricted to those pilot areas. People should be riding scooters safely as they would any other motorised vehicle and risk penalties if they don’t. At the end of the trial period we will feedback all information including challenges we have faced to the Department for Transport.”
The success of the trial during the first trial months, saw SIMULATE partner with the NHS Hospital in Stafford, with 61 percent of all rides taken travelling from point-to-point which indicates a significant amount of modal shift taking place.
Now, as the country starts to come out of lockdown, those living and working in Staffordshire are being encouraged to try e-scooters as an alternative mode of transport to navigate the towns. The SIMULATE team are also deploying e-scooters into more rural locations in Staffordshire to further understand the feasibility and impact of micromobility in rural settings.
Live Labs Programme Director, Giles Perkins said: “Shared e-scooters programmes are a key part of the emerging decarbonised mobility agenda and we are excited to see results such as these coming from the Staffordshire trials. New and future mobility solutions aren’t just for the major cities and through Labs we are demonstrating where new technologies and services could bring benefits to communities of all scales”
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