MICROMOBILITY
helping people reduce the cost of their commute are getting veneer thin”. “One year into the trials it seemed reasonable to want to analyse the data. Two years in it felt heel dragging. At this stage it is unfathomable how there can be so little political will to make something happen here.”
Lagging behind
Elsewhere across the world however, the legal status of privately-owned e-scooters is different, and the UK is being “rapidly left behind”, continued Morgan. “Already in France, for example, they see 700-900,000 e-scooter sales each year. A thriving new transport economy is building up around that. It’s a similar story across the world, with recent legislation applied in Japan and Australia.” Tandem said that Governments across the world have understood the growing challenge of rising congestion in our cities. “Many countries are faced with growing populations, increased road usage, rising traffic congestion in our cities and ever-increasing environmental impact. “The UK lagged behind the rest of Europe adopting
e-bikes for many years and we are seeing the same trend with e-scooters. The UK Government has invested considerably in our road networks and infrastructure over the last decade. However, they appear focused on promoting electric cars and bias toward mass public transport network solutions such as public buses rather than embracing further change across all e-mobility solutions. “Other countries support all forms of electric transportation across e-bikes, e-scooters and e-motorcycles, we need to adopt the same attitude. We support the need for regulation, other countries have adopted this stance, however we need a forward-thinking Government willing to embrace change rather than requiring such depth of data to make decisions to be passed through parliament.” Morgan said there has been a “mediocre argument
36 | November 2023
Choking innovation But how is the delay impacting the industry? “For the first time in modern history the UK is the loser in a new transport revolution,” said Morgan. “Having been at the forefront of boats, trains, aeroplanes and cars, this Government’s failure to act is equivalent to the UK stepping out of the game. “It’s slowly choking innovation and investment from the UK e-scooter sector. To my awareness, we are one of only three or four new vehicle companies actively based in this country.” Tandem said: “The delay in releasing agreed e-scooter legislation is hugely significant for so many e-mobility retailers, distributors and manufacturers. The Government should themselves see this as an opportunity to capture incremental taxation through the sale of e-scooter driving GDP.
“So many are presented with such uncertainty of forecasting
stock and sales for the next 12-18 months in an already difficult trading environment. This uncertainty is likely to be particularly challenging for ‘specialist pure play’ retailers who solely stock e-scooters, fortunately several retailers have the scope to drive growing categories such as e-MTB. “The impact of this delay is far reaching. Our environment and climate may suffer irreversible damage should this be further delayed, having implications for the air quality and health of our nation. The Government needs to make a decision fast to protect our industry and support the broader environmental transportation challenges we have in our country and across our cities.”
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peddled about avoiding the ‘scootergeddon’ seen in countries who introduced legislation too fast and had to update it”, but “that is a headline-reader’s perspective which simply isn’t representative of any European city we have visited over the past four years of our active research. “People are smart, and the vast majority ride in a manner that is socially appropriate.”
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