I know you’ve been spotting them everywhere. This picture – looking down on a corner of the Royal Crescent – comes courtesy of Audrey Woods.
As golden autumn approaches, Bath is turning green.
The region’s e-scooters are changing provider and colour – from coral to green – and are branded WESTscoot .
In light of the success of e-scooters in the region, the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority has negotiated a brand-new contract with a different provider – TIER – that is taking over the running of the scooters.
Importantly, the contract will bring an estimated £9.7 million to the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority over four years. The money raised will be ring-fenced to be reinvested in future West of England transport improvements.
Other benefits for residents include clauses in the contract to address parking concerns, and 100 brand-new e-scooter parking racks to help keep the fleet tidy.
Most importantly, alongside 4,000 WESTscoot e-scooters, there will, for the first time, be:
• WESTbike: 1,500 new pedal-only e-bikes
Dan Norris, Metro Mayor of the West of England, said:
“WESTscoot must build on the successes of e-scooters in our West of England region which has been one of the most successful trials anywhere in Europe. But it must also address the legitimate concerns residents often voice over poor and irresponsible e-scooter parking.
“Given our very ambitious West of England net-zero 2030 target, it is vital that these bright green electric WESTscoot, WESTbike and WESTcargo e-vehicles become a common and welcome sight across our region, for they are an important means to allow residents to reduce car use or give it up completely if they should so choose.
“TIER are extremely keen to do a great job for our brilliant region and I’m pleased about their green credentials as the first micro-mobility company to be fully climate-neutral.
Fred Jones TIER Vice President in Northern Europe, commented:
“I believe with WESTscoot, the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority is setting out an important example of how shared electric personal vehicles and existing public transport options can work together to reduce carbon emissions and congestion in our urban centres.
“The expansion of the service to include e-bikes and e-cargo bikes makes it easier for the people of West of England to choose to leave their car at home and pick the perfect vehicle for their journey, whether that is commuting, going to see friends or even doing the weekly shop. We are proud to have been selected as the operator for this UK-leading flagship service.”
While of course I am in favour of greener ways to travel, these scooters are larger in size than the previous ones, and the bikes ( and scooters) are now scattered all over the pavements, taking up more room.
As your photo shows I think the Council have totally forgotten the hierarchy of travel that puts the pedestrian at the top! With these and pavement parked cars going outside the front door is now an assault course! Walking in the road is now easier and safer.
Well I hope that there are sufficient racks provided for the amount of scooters and bikes!!!! But it begs the question will all users be bothered to park in the rack provided? I fear not.
It seems to me that many of the current scooter users discard them indiscriminately- they are a danger on the road and off it. Recently I witnessed an elderly man trip on a carelessly abandoned vehicle.
How about employing a scooter and bike warden to monitor the situation or is there one already?
It’s really good news that we have e-bikes to hire. However, as a resident of Combe Down I am really disappointed to see that the bikes cannot be used to get here. Bath University students can use them but not the Bath residents living on the plateau. Let’s hope BANES will extend the hire zone to really encourage residents to cycle more.