London’s various e-scooter share schemes could replace five million car trips a year, according to one of the operators. Tier says that its research indicates that 17.3 per cent of electric scooter rides replace car journeys.
Dott, Lime and Tier were the three operators selected by Transport for London and London Councils to conduct e-scooter trials in a number of London boroughs. These got underway on June 7.
“We want to ensure a green, sustainable recovery from coronavirus, and e-scooters are an alternative to cars that could help with this,” commented London’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, Will Norman, at the time.
At capacity, each London e-scooter operator will be able to run a fleet of up to 6,600 e-scooters. By assessing usage data from its operations across 115 cities in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, Tier estimates a usage rate of four rides a day per scooter in the capital. This would equate to almost 80,000 rides a day or over 29 million a year.
Commenting on the findings, Tier regional manager Fred Jones said: “The potential environmental benefits of switching from cars to e-scooters for short journeys are absolutely staggering when you think about the size and scale of London and the number of vehicles on the roads.
“The Mayor is rightly committed to improving London’s air quality, and that’s what makes the launch of e-scooter schemes in the capital so exciting – it’s a unique opportunity to rethink urban transport in the capital and to reduce pollution levels.
“As the first carbon neutral e-scooter operator in the world, we are passionate about offering more sustainable transport and are excited to see the positive impact rental e-scooters can have on congestion in the city.”
Tier says that if all of London’s one-mile car trips were replaced by rental e-scooter trips, it would amount to 233 tonne daily reduction in CO2 emissions – the same amount released by 240 return flights from London to New York.
Silviya Barrett, the head of policy, research and projects at the Campaign for Better Transport, commented: “To combat a worrying rise in car use and air pollution post-pandemic, we need plenty of green travel options available in towns and cities to suit everyone’s needs.
“Using e-scooters and other forms of micro mobility in combination with London’s extensive public transport network in place of some journeys currently made by car can bring significant health and environmental benefits."
