By Stephen Coulter & Krystyna Weston, Founders Zipidi Micromobility & Convenors of the Asia Pacific Micromobility Alliance
Model laws for electric scooters and personal mobility devices agreed by Australia’s Transport Ministers will compromise safety and innovation. The industry urges Australia’s State Governments to modify the National Transport Commission model laws to allow safer and more innovative vehicles for millions of Australian riders. The scooters the NTC model law prevents are widely used throughout the world.
Australia’s National Transport Commission (NTC) has recently published “model laws” for electric personal mobility devices in Australia. These were all supported at a National meeting of Federal and State Transport Ministers on 28 May 2021.
To become law, each State then needs to enact the model laws — which is yet to happen. These “model laws” aim to improve road safety for all users and have consistent laws throughout Australia.
Unfortunately, the NTC process took three years, and some key recommendations were based on out-of-date data and a public-transit focussed decision-making framework.
The result — Australia’s “model laws” will compromise safety and innovation.
The NTC has included a maximum scooter length of 125 cm and a maximum weight of 25 kg. These fundamentally limit safety and innovation. — an unintended consequence of narrow rather than progressive legislation.
Let’s look at the two issues and understand why they compromise safety and innovation.
- The development of eScooters since the NTC began their model law project in 2018.
- The inappropriate use of public transit dimensions to determine eScooter size.
2021 Scooters Vs 2018 Scooters (NTC’s base year)
2018 was the first year of mass adoption of shared electric scooters. Bird had been founded in 2017, and Lime had morphed from bikes to scooters. Shared rental scooters economic life was measured in weeks and months. Lightweight consumer scooters — mostly made by Segway — were being used as commercial rental scooters. Riders renting by the minute, able to leave them anywhere and inexperienced in these fun new devices. Accidents happened due to:
- Rider inexperience
- Scooter frailties — they weren’t designed for commercial rentals
- Small wheels — reminiscent of our childhood Razor scooters — not suited to city bumps and potholes
- Small decks, hardly bigger than childhood Razors without the room for two adult feet.
But they proved Product:Market fit!
This is the environment the NTC started in and in which design specifications were initially reviewed. It’s also the operating environment the often referenced USA CDC Austin accident study was conducted.
Using the 2018 environment for making scooter recommendations for 2021 and beyond is analogous to using T-Model Fords as the design standard for Teslas!
Since 2018, the worlds leading shared scooter operators and scooter manufacturers have dramatically changed the scooter models and safety. Scooter failures, accident analysis and design faults of consumer scooters have all been addressed in later models, which have little resemblance to those of 2018.
Significant design changes include:
- Bigger wheels — most sharing scooters have/are moving to 12" or larger wheels — compared to the 8" or smaller wheels on most scooters in 2018. Some Dutch share scooters and newer models from Razor and AER have 20" or larger wheels. Larger wheels handle bumps, cracks and potholes much better — like bikes.
- Shock-absorbing suspension — early scooters were solid wheels with suspension — every bump was felt, sometimes causing instability and falls. Most leading scooters now have shock absorbers and more forgiving wheels, adding to rider comfort and stability.
- Longer, wider decks. Adults can now stand comfortably on newer scooters with both feet, either front and back or side by side, depending on rider preference. This increases stability and rider comfort.
- Addition of seats or baskets. Seats open scooters to more users and can improve stability. Baskets allow small bags to be stored hands-free and enable more journeys to be done safely, including basic shopping.
- Better and more brakes — hydraulic and disc brakes are found on some scooters now, as well as mechanical, electrical and footbrakes.
- Better motors and batteries — batteries can last for up to 20+ days, and longer-life batteries add weight and also lower the centre of gravity for stability.
- Integration of many sensors and Internet of Things(IoT), GPS and communications hardware. As an example, Superpedestrian’s newest Link scooter has 73 sensors that monitor 1,000 items per second. This enables scooters to instantly adapt to riders and conditions for much safer rides and avert accidents.
The technology in eScooters now enables huge safety advancements for riders beyond just the physical elements:
- Geo-fencing controlling the maximum speed or turning off engines in slow and no go zones.
- Controlling and reducing the maximum speed at certain times of day, e.g. Voi, are implementing slower maximum scooter speed at night.
- Limiting new rider speed on their first x rides.
- Responding to geo-locations within a second for greater responsiveness.
- Loading detailed maps on each scooter for instant geo-fencing.
- Integrated helmets and “lock-to” locks to reduce street clutter.
These design changes and technology innovations make scooters many times better and safer than they were in 2018. Simply making wheels larger adds length to the scooters as the diameter of the wheels increases the length. Combined with other changes, the greater length and weight provide better stability, robustness and a lower centre of gravity.
Below is a chart showing the scooter evolution of the major share scooter operators. The most recently announced Link by Superpedestrian, Lime Gen 4 and Bird 3 are amongst the most advanced. Both the Link and Lime Gen 4 exceed the maximum length and weight specified in the NTC recommendations. Bird may as well; I haven’t been able to find their detailed specifications.
As a result, Australia will not have the safest scooters if the NTC model laws are enacted without changes.
Here are some links to detailed specifications of the new Superpedestrian, Lime and Bird scooters.
The NTC Dimensions Compromise Privately Owned Scooters
The recommended dimensions will also apply to privately owned eScooters and other electric Personal Mobility Devices. This can limit access to the safest scooters for private owners and people from minority groups, seniors, and people with disabilities. Often the people with the most need for safer, longer and more stable scooters and PMDs, where safety and comfort are critical.
Below are examples of own-your-own consumer scooters. This style of scooter is more comfortable due to the larger wheels and the seating options.
They would not comply with the proposed NTC model laws as they are slightly too long and/or too heavy, even though they are safer.
They do comply with government regulations everywhere else in the world.
Much analysis has suggested the evolution of some scooter models in this direction…
Razor EcoSmart Metro HD
The original scooter manufacturer from 2000 now has some leading consumer electric models. This model has much bigger wheels for safety and comfort. It also has a seat and a basket for added comfort and convenience. It sells well in the USA — it is not compliant with the NTC recommendations as it is too long and heavy — 1455mm long and 33.14kg. It is still shorter than most bikes and of similar weight or lighter than many electric bikes.
It is well suited for commuters, people with disabilities, seniors and local journeys. The basket can accommodate essential shopping without the rider required to carry a bag or wear a backpack.
AER 557
A very different design — several manufacturers, like Razor, are heading in this direction. In the Netherlands, share scooters are similar to this model. The AER is 1774mm long from wheel extremity to wheel extremity. Yet, hub-to-hub is 1250 mm the current permitted length — it would be legal if measured in the same way cars and other motor vehicles are measured — Australian rules define a motor vehicles footprint as from axle-to-axle/hub-to-hub. It weighs 23kg, so it is within the NTC weight limits. Its 20” wheels make for a bike style ride and comfort factor.
Dutch share scooters are also heading in this direction…
The Craziness of Using Public Transit to Determine Scooter Dimensions
The NTC and some State governments are citing public transit as a reason for limiting the size and weight of electric scooters.
They use two rationales to support this approach:
- Dimensions of doorways and access point to the smallest transit vehicles — buses — as the limiting factor on scooter maximum size.
- First, last-mile rides to transit is a major use case for scooters and again should be the limiting factor taken into account for maximum scooter size.
The focus by experts in historic transport on determining policy for future transport and innovation creates these illogical outcomes.
Why Should Historic Forms of Transport Determine Future Transport Dimensions?
They shouldn’t.
While first, last-mile journeys to transit are one use case — it is a huge minority of use across all scooter users. Where it is a significant use-case — for shared scooter operators like Lime, it is to get to the transit hub — not to take it with you! Share scooters were never designed to go on buses, trains, light rail or ferries.
Some privately owned scooter riders do take their scooters on public transit — Depending on the State in Australia, public transit use is mostly below 30% for commuters, less than 20% in Melbourne — Australia’s largest city, and under 10% in Adelaide.
Yet most private scooter owners use their scooters for local journeys, recreation and end-to-end commuting. Limiting their access to better, safer scooters because a minority of riders use public transit is totally illogical.
The market should be allowed to build scooters to neet the different use cases and let market demand determine what is required.
Public Transit authorities can place limits on vehicles allowed on transit- as they do with bikes.
Some manufacturers will build small, lightweight, foldable scooters suitable for transit. Others will build larger, heavier scooters providing more stability and better suited to end-to-end journeys.
If the proposed scooter logic was applied to other transport:
- No car would be allowed larger than a Mini.
- All Bikes would be Bromptons.
- Prams would only accommodate small babies!
It would simply be absurd.
Private owners of ePMD devices should have access to the best and safest models available. The proposed Australian laws prevent this.
A further outcome is there will be limited models available in Australia. Many manufacturers will choose not to make Australian models as the market size does not justify building non-standard models.
Our Recommendations to States, The Federal Government & NTC
Remove the physical dimension restrictions for electric Personal Mobility Devices. No such requirements exist for the wide variety of Bikes available in Australia. The market will then build a range of scooters and PMDs to suit different use cases.
Public Transit authorities can determine their own limits as required.
If LGAs have specific requirements, they can also limit size and access as they do for bikes.
