Interestingly I have recently been perusing data from the trial of e-scooters and e-bikes that has been ongoing in Bristol and South Gloucestershire since the end of October 2020. The trial was originally slated to run for one year but because of Covid the DfT extended that twice before handing it over to the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) who have currently licensed it until late 2027. Success or failure is being judged on 4 metrics and the results (which are being analyses by the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England) so far are ~
1. Modal Shift & Public Transport Integration
• Car Replacement Met Target: The trial successfully displaced cars, with 30% to 36% of e-scooter trips replacing journeys that would have otherwise been taken by car or taxi. In the first year alone, this accounted for over 1 million replaced car trips.
• Transit Synergy: The "first/last mile" metric scored well, with 10% to 20% of journeys being used directly in combination with public transport (such as commuting to and from Bristol Temple Meads).
• Active Travel Displacement: A noted drawback in the UWE evaluation showed that the remaining 60%+ of rides replaced walking (35%), bus use (19%), or traditional cycling (15%), meaning the trial heavily cannibalised other green transit methods.
2. Safety and Casualties
• The "Safety in Numbers" Success: A landmark University of Bristol study published in Injury Prevention found that introducing the e-scooter scheme reduced overall serious and fatal bicycle collisions by 20%. Researchers concluded that more micro-mobility users on the road forced drivers to behave more cautiously.
• User vs. Non-User Perception: While 70% of e-scooter riders reported feeling safe, general public perception remains divided due to pedestrian near-misses.
3. Environmental and Infrastructure Impact
• Carbon Savings: WECA confirmed that the high volume of car displacement resulted in a net reduction in regional travel-related carbon emissions.
• Pavement Clutter Failure: Street scene management was heavily criticized. The evaluation highlighted that poorly parked e-scooters frequently obstructed footways, negatively impacting blind and partially sighted pedestrians. However, tracking data showed riders generally rode correctly, with over 96% of e-scooters staying on the carriageway/cycle lanes rather than mounting pavements.
4. Accessibility and Social Inclusion
• High Uptake: Bristol became the most heavily utilized trial fleet in the UK, with roughly 1 in 15 residents (7%) actively using the system monthly.
• Demographic Imbalance: The trial failed to achieve equal demographic reach. The vast majority of active users (81% to 84%) were concentrated entirely within the 18-to-34 age bracket, and predominantly skewed male.
So far as the relevant authorities are concerned this trial is a success overall. Public opinion, or maybe perception, may be different. I regularly see kids riding the scooters - which should not be possible but suggests they are using a parent's account - often two or three up. Pavements are still littered with discarded bikes and scooters - I'm fed up of reporting them where I live - and I rarely see anyone riding on the road but we all know how dangerous that can be so maybe I shouldn't be surprised. This last observation flies in the face of Dott's data. There has been a notable drop in the number of hire scooters and bikes around since the local university broke up for the year and a corresponding increase in the number of unused ones littering the pavements.
Bristol City Council data shows that there are an average of 100 incidents involving e-scooters/bikes per year in the city but they don't have a breakdown between legal and illegal ones, which feels like a bit of a failure considering the safety and casualty metric.
