Proposed locations of seventy e-scooter parking bays and ‘no-go zones’ revealed
By Owen Sheppard, local democracy reporter
A map showing the proposed locations of 70 e-scooter parking bays across Westminster and the West End has been revealed.
Westminster is one of many London boroughs that have joined Transport for London’s plan to roll out an e-scooter rental scheme this year.
They will have a maximum speed of 15.5 mph and would only be allowed on roads.
Cities including Bath, Bristol, Liverpool and Milton Keynes already have e-scooter schemes, where renters must use a mobile app to scan their driving licence.
The map, produced by Westminster Council, shows where multiple parking zones have been proposed in nearly every area of the borough.
The locations have not been finalised.
Areas of the map coloured in pink are said to represent “no-go zones”.
In these areas, GPS and AI technology will force the e-scooters to slow down and stop.
The locations were chosen using TfL’s “predicted movement data”, as well as data from cycle hire stations and Westminster Council’s Parking Occupancy Report.
Meanwhile, Kensington and Chelsea Council recently said parking bays would be located outside South Kensington Station and at the piazza outside Kensington Town Hall.
Despite their prevalence on London’s streets, it is illegal to ride privately owned e-scooters on public roads and footpaths.
Due to the mayoral elections, TfL says it is temporarily unable to make announcements on future projects, but it had previously suggested the year-long trial scheme could start this spring. It is now understood that this could be moved to late June or July.
TfL has previously said that operators Dott, Lime and Tier have been selected to provide the e-scooters and run the scheme with TfL.
Due to the pre-election rules, TfL said it was unable to confirm which of London’s 32 boroughs have agreed to join the scheme.
The e-scooters will be powered by swappable batteries. TfL has yet to reveal how these batteries would be recharged or swapped.
In November, TfL said between 60 to 150 e-scooters would be made available in each borough, with users able to ride freely between participating boroughs.
