Report finds groups of commuters on e-scooters in Lambeth – and parents with children on the front – are biggest problem

A big rise in the number of mothers taking their children to school and large groups of commuters are among the biggest problems with e-scooters, research has found.

But another is the lack of information about it being legal for a trial in Lambeth, the results show.

The figures, researched among 400 residents of the borough found pedestrians were fearful of dozens of young working commuters riding e-scooters en mass through Stockwell and to get to central London.

All respondents said they had seen a surge of mothers using private e-scooters to take their young children to school in the mornings in Croydon, Lambeth and Merton – with dozens of riding the vehicles with children on the front.

Mangers of community centres asked users of seven online groups in Lambeth about insurance, riding on the pavements or roads and issues.

But they found there had been next to no reports from official or unofficial sources on the e-scooter rental trials that are operating across Lambeth. Residents could point to only one Facebook post coming from Lambeth council since the trials began 1 year ago.

Almost none had any knowledge of the rental schemes.

Directors of the Merton chamber of commerce – London’s biggest chamber – stated no business case had been made for the use of e-scooters in its last 30 meetings.

Organisations based in Lambeth that have worked with almost 1,000 people reported they could not access the e-scooter trials and have been shut out of the scheme if they live in certain Lambeth wards – even though the trials should be operational across the whole borough.

Community leaders also reported a big surge in e-scooter use in Lambeth since the start of the COVID19 lockdown in 2020, with only a handful of people riding them before then. Residents now regularly ride them to their community centres.

The responses also suggest the change was sparked when pockets of urban youth began using the new vehicles and it spread across all parts within six months.

The respondents believe that is because young people no longer feel comfortable using public transport because of rows with older commuters and drivers – they have chosen to use e-scooters to avoid conflict.

The research report was done by Rollsafe, a green transportation organisation that teaches safety training and provides public education on the safe use of e-scooters to communities in South London.

It established London’s first green transportation council for underrepresented communities, with four frontline organisations serving more than 4,000 Londoners in recent years.

Rollsafe is now working with Transport for London, the London Road Safety council, Croydon voluntary action group and other third sector organisations to build South London’s first ‘information highway’ that will publicise the service – and outsource it to third sector organisations.

Rollsafe has submitted its research report to the Transport select committee, Transport for London and the London Road safety council documenting how the e-scooter usage has grown in South London, how information about e-scooters is being spread, community issues with current transport – including the relationship between transport, communities and the police.

It has made recommendations for how official information outsourcing works in Government departments and the need to work collaboratively with advertisers and the private sector.

Rollsafe’s February council meeting in  2022 is making a request for information from the Met to see whether policing powers are being used fairly across London’s communities.

The organisations on the council include:

• Mentoring project Leranto community initiativehttps://www.leratocommunityinitiative.org.uk/
• Unique Talent CIC giving creative courses and mentoring for 3,000 disadvantaged young people in Croydon, Merton and Sutton
• Sherwood Park Hall community hub https://sherwoodparkhall.com/
• Hook house community centre https://hookhousecommunitycentre.co.uk/
• Off the record – a youth counseling service – and Merton connected, the largest voluntary sector supported in the borough are also looking at ways to support it. https://www.mertonconnected.co.uk/2. https://www.talkofftherecord.org/

Unique Talent’s Jerome Sewell said: “Rollsafe has been taking active measures to report on the trails and e-scooter use across the board in London. Our green transportation community council works with organisations based in Lambeth where the trails are active. Our council is reporting on ground level information in regards to the impact of the e-scooters on communities so that both research and discussion represents the broad spectrum of residents and gives them a voice in a fundamental component of their day to day life and transport.

“It is our belief that the real experience of communities is fundamental to ensuring that information and our insight on e-scooter use is representative of London’s communities.

“We have first-hand experience of the danger of e-scooters can produce.

“We can see the need to avoid the inevitable casualties that have been caused in the past by motorcycles, particularly for young men. Our partners in the motorcycle sector recount the days when an intense escalation in high-speed crashes inevitably led to casualties and deaths which scared some road users at the height of their youth for life whilst sending others to an early grave.

“This is why the training course to come into existence.”

Rollsafe is a member of the Parliamentary advisory council for transport safety and is part of a panel advising Transport for London on the rental trials launched earlier last year.

The Parliamentary Commission of Transport Safety says up to the end of 2021 there were 300 escoooter related casualties and 9 of those were fatalities.