Mayor bids to make North East test location for new e-scooters rental scheme

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has said that he wants the region to be the location of a new electric scooter rental scheme, following the news the government wants to see the rechargeable scooters more widely used.

If successful in bidding the trial will be one of the first in the UK and would see e-scooters on public roads for the first time.

The Department for Transport announced earlier today that it wants trials of e-scooters to be fast-tracked to help encourage more people off public transport and onto cleaner alternatives and could see rental e-scooters on UK roads as early as June.

The government wants to see the battery-powered vehicles used more widely as a socially distanced means of transport following the coronavirus pandemic and is looking for regions to test the zero emission scooters on public roads.

Currently e-scooters are banned on roads and pavements in the UK. They are already legal in many other countries around the world — including major European cities — but are banned in the UK under existing traffic laws.

Mayor Houchen said: “The coronavirus pandemic has had an unprecedented impact of all parts of our lives, it’s clear that social distancing is going to be with us for a prolonged period of time in order to reduce the risk of a second peak in the virus. With this in mind it is absolutely right that we look at alternative forms of transport that are compatible with social distancing.

“As a region we are already becoming a pioneer in clean energy; we have a reputation as a centre of excellence for offshore wind and we are delivering the world’s first industrial scale us of carbon capture, utilisation and storage with the ground-breaking Net Zero Teesside project. Now I want Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool to be home to a new e-scooter trial.

“Getting the hard-working people of Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool back to work in a safe and responsible way will be key to our regions recovery. Trilling e-scooters here will mean we can get back to work sooner - supporting our amazing local businesses and safeguarding jobs.”