The Irish Government is bringing forward legislation to legalise the use of electric scooters and bicycles (e-scooters and e-bikes, as they're more commonly known). Currently, many people use such battery-powered personal transport, but are doing so illegally - as the legislation currently stands, any powered vehicle on Irish roads must be taxed and insured.
That will change with the introduction of the Road Traffic & Roads Bill 2021, which will amend the current Road Traffic Act assuming it's passed through the Dáil.
A new class of powered transport
According to the Bill; "a new class of powered personal transporters (PPTs), including e-scooters, will be created, and the Minister will be able to provide for the use of these vehicles in public places under existing regulatory powers."
Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said: "I am very pleased today to be able to publish this important legislation, which I hope to introduce in the Dáil in the next few weeks. We committed in the Programme for Government to resolving legal barriers to the use of e-scooters, as well as e-bikes, and this Bill will deliver on both of those commitments. These proposals in the Bill should be seen as part of our wider efforts to encourage alternative forms of mobility, reduce our culture of reliance on the private car and open opportunities for active and healthy travel."
The move has been welcomed, unsurprisingly, by those companies looking to provide e-scooter setups. One such is Spin, which is actually owned and funded by Ford, and which wants to establish instant-rental racks of e-scooters at major public transport hubs and other amenities.
Steve Pyer, UK & Ireland Country Manager at Spin, said: "We welcome the government's decision to make e-scooters legal for use in Ireland. Responsible e-scooter programme operators like Spin have shown how e-scooter sharing schemes can be run in a way that promotes safe and responsible use that respects the needs of all road users. With experience of running such projects across the US, the UK and Europe, Spin is ready to help people in towns and cities across Ireland to learn how e-scooter use can bring benefits for them and for the economy in their own localities.
Roll-out of services in Ireland
"Just last month, we organised e-scooter safety demonstration events in both Dublin and Cork where we showed how the latest e-scooter models can be set to sound an alarm once they are illegally ridden on a foot path. The same technology also encourages users to make sure that they park a scooter in a designated area, again through to the use of an audible alarm that sounds until the scooter is parked where it should be The great opportunity for the roll out of e-scooter services in Ireland is that the authorities here can learn from the best practices in running such services in cities and university campuses across the globe. We look forward to working with our partners in Ireland on bringing the benefits of e-scooter use to as many people as possible across the country."
Also welcoming the move was taxi and mobility service FreeNow. Niall Carson, General Manager for FreeNow Ireland commented: "FreeNow has advocated for the legalisation of e-scooters in Ireland for some time and we are delighted to welcome the newly published Road Traffic & Roads Bill 2021 which will allow for their use in public places. We commend this announcement by Minister Ryan and consider this to be a significant step in developing a more sustainable, inter-connected and multi-modal transport network across Ireland. Demand for micro-mobility options like e-scooters among our passengers is already strong - with research showing that 40% intend to use e-scooters for everyday transport once legislation passes. We are excited to facilitate this demand by launching a new e-scooter booking option via our FreeNow app in the coming months. This marks a key development in our ambition to provide a wider range of sustainable, low-emission and efficient transport options to passengers across Ireland.
"We have seen from various European markets in which FreeNow already offers e-scooters, such as France, Poland, Italy, UK and Germany, the success rate of micro-mobility options like e-scooters and the role they play in supporting a more multi-modal national approach to transport i.e. one which is less reliant on private car ownership and more reliant on flexible, blended transport choices to meet transport needs; including a combination of public transport, taxis, car sharing, e-scooters, e-mopeds and e-bikes etc. We are currently progressing discussions with a range of e-scooter providers to facilitate e-scooter integration on the FreeNow app in Ireland over the coming months. We are committed to partnering with reputable, high quality operators who prioritise passenger experience and place utmost importance on safety standards."
'Notoriously dangerous'
Others are less sure of the benefits of e-scooters. Noting a rise in accidents in London involving e-scooters last year, the Metropolitan Police Service described them as "notoriously dangerous." Crashes involving e-scooters were 'underreported' said the London police, and noted that they had seized some 268 scooters and issued official warnings to more than 600 riders. Some of the seized scooters were said to have been modified to hit speeds of up to 110km/h. Infamously, well-known YouTuber Emily Hartridge was killed when she hit a truck in Battersea, south west London, while riding her e-scooter, which was later found to have had under-inflated tyres, and was being ridden too fast.
On the other hand, the German Federal Statistics Office (Statistisches Bundesamt) found that accidents involving e-scooters were at a very low rate. E-scooters have been approved for use in Germany since 2019, but last year's figures showed that out of 264,000 accidents resulting in personal injury, only one per cent involved an e-scooter. By contrast, 91,500 such incidents involved bicycles, although that could be in part a representation of how much more popular bicycles are than e-scooters at present.
Aside from e-scooters and e-bikes, the new Bill will also incorporate some changes in car insurance. The completion of the Motor Insurance Database will, according to Minister for Justice, Hildegarde Naughton; "assist in stopping uninsured drivers, who are often dangerous and guilty of other road traffic offences. It will also help in bringing down the cost of insurance for law-abiding drivers."