More Londoners are hiring E-scooters since the expansion of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone
By Joe Talora, local democracy reporter
The number of Londoners hiring e-scooters as part of TfL’s trial rental scheme has increased since the expansion of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone, figures have revealed.
The three operators involved in the trial – Tier, Dott and Lime – reported a 30 per cent increase in the number of new users in the week following the expansion of the ULEZ.
During that same period, the total number of journeys made using TfL-approved e-scooters increased by almost 10 per cent.
Alan Clarke, senior director of policy for northern Europe at Lime, has said that there is a “direct causational link” between the ULEZ expansion and the increase in users hiring e-scooters.
Mr Clarke said: “We had a bump during the week of about 30 per cent more new riders. Part of that, certainly, is going to be due to the increased focus that was on sustainable travel whilst the expansion of the ULEZ was underway.
“That week there was a lot of media coverage around the need for Londoners to continually find more sustainable, lower-emission ways of travelling and also the fact that there was going to be an increased charge for older vehicles to drive within central London.”
He added that the coverage of the ULEZ expansion led to people “taking another look at the choices that they make when they travel”.
More than 355,000 e-scooter journeys have so far been made since the TfL hire trial began in June, 100,000 of which occurred between September 27 and October 24, the month leading up to the ULEZ expansion.
Alex Williams, TfL’s Director of City Planning, said: “We’re determined to clean up London’s toxic air and walking, cycling, public transport and innovative forms of transport such as rental e-scooters and bikes all have a potential role to play in this.
“We’re pleased to see more people choosing cleaner forms of transport and will continue to work with councils, e-scooter and bike hire operators and others to invest in low-carbon and low-emission ways to travel around the capital.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan officially expanded the Ultra-Low Emission Zone to the north and south circular roads on October 25 and has said that it will bring cleaner air to an additional 3.8 million people.
Mr Khan said: “The initial indications are that we are seeing fewer non-compliant vehicles, we’re seeing fewer vehicles which is fantastic because it means that [the ULEZ] is working.
“But it will take about a month to get the proper raw figures because we deliberately introduced this at a quiet period during half-term, so you’ve got to compare apples with apples.”
Everyone at the South London Press thanks you for your continued support.
Former Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has encouraged everyone in the country who can afford to do so to buy a newspaper, and told the Downing Street press briefing:
“A FREE COUNTRY NEEDS A FREE PRESS, AND THE NEWSPAPERS OF OUR COUNTRY ARE UNDER SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL PRESSURE”
If you can afford to do so, we would be so grateful if you can make a donation which will allow us to continue to bring stories to you, both in print and online. Or please make cheques payable to “MSI Media Limited” and send by post to South London Press, Unit 112, 160 Bromley Road, Catford, London SE6 2NZ
So glad the Mayor and everyone is happy about the increase in the use of scooters. Shame that many disabled people don’t feel the same as we are experiencing more people riding on the pavement on both bikes and scooters and when challenged we get abuse. You created LTN’s and now ULEZ to give people more room to ride on the roads but seems this is not good enough now you want the pavements as well! Just demonstrates to me the arrogance of people, just because they care about the environment does not mean they show the same care to vulnerable people.