A Sunshine Coast Council vote has sealed the fate of an e-transport trial that has been running for almost 18 months.
Councillors voted on Thursday to accept an officer’s recommendation that the trial wind up on September 30.
Neuron Mobility had been awarded a trial permit to provide e-scooters and e-bikes in the Maroochydore, Alexandra Headland and Mooloolaba areas.
The trial allowed the council to assess community feedback on e-transport, whether or not the community would embrace it, and if it was a good fit for the Sunshine Coast.
Council’s group executive for customer and planning services Shanagh Jacobs said the trial had been undertaken within agreed service levels but a report to councillors recommended that it not continue, and to reassess the Coast’s readiness for e-transport offerings in 2026.
Areas of concern regarding the trial included the style of usage not meeting expectations; mixed community feedback towards e-scooters in general; community concern about usage, regulation and rider behaviour, particularly about safety; and the impacts on amenity.
The council said it would continue advocacy and engagement with the state government to improve the safety of e-mobility devices and their use.
Monitoring the impacts of the increased use and popularity of e-mobility on the Sunshine Coast will also continue.
August 26: The notion of a trip around the central Sunshine Coast on a bright orange scooter or bike looks like being parked for a while.
A report ahead of this week’s Sunshine Coast Council meeting recommends that the e-bike and e-scooter trial ends as scheduled at the end of September.
It also recommends the CEO “reassess the Sunshine Coast’s readiness for e-transport hire offerings on council-controlled land in 2026”.
The e-bikes and e-scooters have been available to use for free in Maroochydore, Cotton Tree, Alexandra Headland and Mooloolaba as part of an 18-month trial approved by the council at the end of 2022.
The trial aimed to determine if e-transport hire was a good fit for the Sunshine Coast, assess community feedback and see if people would embrace e-transport hire as a way of getting around Maroochydore and Mooloolaba.
The report went as far as saying that overall “the trial in its current form has not achieved its intended purpose”.
“Anecdotally there has been limited uptake in hire usage in comparison to trials undertaken in other local government areas,” it says.
“It is yet to be determined if this is due to preferences towards private vs hire or trial conditions such as location, cost, speed governance, age restrictions etc.”
A review found that an average of 363 e-scooters and 20 e-bikes had been available for use every week but there had been cases of devices sitting idle for up to three days.
According to the review, there had been some instances of poor parking that could have been due to geotechnical fencing failure or confusion.
Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb.
There had also been “many instances where riders have failed to comply” with road rules but it was believed that police had not undertaken any enforcement during the trial.
During the trial, there were 31 “incidents” involving the e-mobility devices, including two with pedestrians.
The report says it would be inappropriate to continue the trial for a number of reasons, including impacts to amenity.
It said the “style of usage” had not meet expectation; that there had been general community concern relating to regulation, usage and rider behaviour; and that high levels of management and oversight were required for a hire agreement.
Neuron Mobility, which succesfully tendered to provide the scooters for the trial has expressed disappointment about its pending end.
“Since the program began in June 2023 we have had very few reported issues in the Sunshine Coast, and 99.99% of all trips have ended safely and without incident,” the business said in a statement.
“We will continue to work closely with the council and have given our advice on how the program could be successful in the future.”
Of the 1277 people who responded to a survey about the trial, 60 per cent did not want the trial to continue, with safety and amenity their main concerns, while 37 per cent were supportive and 3 per cent did not care.
Only 22 per cent of respondents had participated in the trial.
The report notes that community sentiment does not appear to differentiate between personally owned and hired e-scooters.
It says risks associated with discontinuing the trial include that people may form a perception that the council does not support e-transport, that the council may not meet the targets of its Integrated Transport Management Strategy, and that e-mobility devices might be hired from elsewhere.
These risks could be mitigated by continued advocacy and engagement with the state government to improve the safety of e-mobility devices and their use, and continued monitoring of the use of e-mobility devices on the Coast, it says.
A positive from the trial was that Neuron Mobility found that 75 per cent of users made a purchase from a local business during their trips.
Councillors will vote at the Thursday’s general meeting on whether or not to accept the recommendation to discontinue the trial.
Help keep independent and fair Sunshine Coast news coming by subscribing to our FREE daily news feed. All it requires is your email at the bottom of this article.
