Launch of trial of E Scooters in the Great Lakes area 23.10.23

Launch of trial of E Scooters in the Great Lakes area

Transcript

00:00 We're very excited to be hosting it along with three other areas in NSW, which are Armidale,

00:05 Wollongong and Lake Macquarie.

00:07 We've pushed the start back, it was going to be on the 1st of November but now we're

00:10 starting on the 15th of November.

00:14 It's going to be tightly controlled, there are a few people who are concerned about it,

00:17 but basically you've got to be over the age of 16, you've got to have access to a smartphone

00:23 with an app that allows a credit card to be recorded and there are restrictions on where

00:29 they can be used.

00:30 The important thing to note too is that all the personal e-scooters out there are still

00:35 prohibited, this is just for the hireable scooters.

00:39 Apparently the supplier had trouble getting the number of scooters that they need to actually

00:43 start the trial.

00:44 It will start now on the 15th of November, it's a 12 month trial, so it will go until

00:49 November next year.

00:50 The important thing is it is a trial, so if there are issues that emerge with it we can

00:55 stop it at any time.

00:57 But there are going to be operators on site at all times.

01:00 The scooters are fitted with GPS's and the operator will know exactly where they've been

01:05 left and can even tell the difference between on a footpath and on a road or beside a footpath,

01:11 so they're responsible for going along and collecting.

01:15 I would suggest to people that if you see one that's going to cause problems just move

01:18 it off the footpath because they're not allowed to be used on footpaths, only on the shared

01:23 pathways which is where the bicycles can go.

01:27 Staff have been negotiating with Transport NSW and the operator for quite some time,

01:31 so it's taken a little while to get organised.

01:35 We just think it's a great thing for the locals to have something a bit different.

01:39 We're all used to seeing these scooters in metropolitan areas and this is an opportunity

01:44 for regional people to have a go.

01:46 It's obviously going to be operating over the summer where there might be a lot of tourists

01:50 who are interested in it as well.

01:52 Well if it's successful, hopefully we'll be able to extend it.

01:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]