E-scooter trial in Sunderland to be extended
Sunderland's e-scooter trial looks set to continue into November 2022 so more data can be gathered.
As part of its meeting on Tuesday 8 February, Sunderland City Council's Cabinet is looking to extend the trial to November 2022.
The extension is in line with a revised request from the Department for Transport (DfT).
E-scooter operator Neuron began Sunderland's rental trial at the end of March 2021. Sunderland is among dozens of cities and towns across the UK running similar trials.
Deputy Leader of Sunderland City Council and Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, Councillor Claire Rowntree said: "Recent lockdowns have meant how trials have grown at a slower rate than initially intended. The trial extension allows extra time for trials to reach capacity and for the DfT to gather more information.
"All this information from Sunderland and other cities will guide final decisions about whether and, if so, how to fully legalise the use of e-scooters."
Sunderland's trial was launched on 31 March 2021 and was intended to be in place for eight months until 30 November 2021. In September 2021, it was extended to March 2022 and the new proposed extension is to the end of November 2022.
The council has the trial under continuous review. And, since March 2021:
• 69,500 rides have been made covering 96,900 miles (156,000km)
• 817 comments and complaints have been received to date, representing less than 1.2 per cent of rides. This includes all complaints received by Neuron including those received via the council, police, public and Neuron staff
• A recent Rider Survey carried out November 2021 found that 31.8 per cent (nearly one-in-three) of e-scooter trips directly displaced car trips in Sunderland. This equates to over 25,670 car trips displaced and over 9,220kg CO2 saved (CO2 savings based on 160g CO2 / km
travelled).
The report to Cabinet also outlines how discussions are ongoing with DfT regarding expansion of the trial into new areas using newly constructed and proposed cycle infrastructure.
Two options are being discussed: Option 1 extension via the newly built SSTC3 and Northern Spire corridor connecting to the Nissan/IAMP employment area and Option 2 and more city routes including proposed cycle infrastructure schemes.