Electric Scooters: Pilot Schemes

(asked on 29th June 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the end of e-scooter trials in March 2022 on rates of (a) car use, (b) bus use, (c) train use and (d) walking and cycling.


Answered by
Rachel Maclean Portrait
Rachel Maclean
This question was answered on 5th July 2021

The Department has in place a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation programme for the trials. This evaluation includes a range of data sources and approaches including data sharing arrangements with operators, surveys, interviews and focus groups with users and non-users and interviews with key local and national stakeholders. The evaluation will help us to understand any shift from other modes of transport to e-scooters. A final report will be published in spring 2022.

E-scooters are less polluting than petrol/diesel powered vehicles, so using an e-scooter instead of driving will reduce emissions and improve air quality. They may result in less congestion. A lot depends on mode shift. If people use an e-scooter instead of a car we will see environmental benefits. Our monitoring and evaluation programme is in place to assess the extent of modal shift.

Future decisions on e-scooters will be based on the evidence we gather in our trials. These decisions include what happens to trials after 31 March 2022. There are a number of potential options, but no decisions have yet been taken.

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