Electric Scooters

[soulstyledevon]

From 5 January (first day of term) our school street is closed at drop off and pick up times with ANPR cameras.

Recent bus gate cameras raised £3,000,000 from generous motorists for the benefit of Lewisham council taxpayers. I wonder how much cash this camera can raise.

Lewisham council issued more than £3m in fines since introduction of low traffic schemes in summer

The Lewisham and Lee Green LTN, a set of road barriers which aim to reduce through-traffic, was brought in under Covid-19 emergency transport measures in June and has received mixed feedback. …

londonnewsonline.co.uk

Brilliant.
Good on them @Amarillo

My wife and I walked into town yesterday. Our local population is 22 000. Small town. We were genuinely saddened by all the people driving on a dry fine day.
I really hope for pay per mile charging in all towns and cities around the UK.
We’ve tried the carrot, it’s time for the stick.

We delivered 50 cookie kit boxes on Friday morning for the PTA.
Charging £1.50 delivery.
Took us 2hrs on our bikes. People were quite shocked when we arrived at their house...

 

[Aidy P]

Thanks for all the feedback on electric bikes. These aren’t really an option due to size, weight and cost for the van. If I want to take bikes, we use our bikes and bike rack.

Has anyone on this forum actually used or purchased an electric scooter? I’d like to understand actual pros and cons and if they can be easily used, charged & stored within a campervan. Thanks.

 

[Jandy61]

I hate the bloody things, some lunatic on one (in a black hoodie, no lights) decided to see if he could overtake a bus on a bend on a wet night with me coming the other way! If I had had the H4 Candle headlights he would have been a dead man, LED’s saved his life.

Yes, funny how people have taken to cycles and scooters so they don’t die of Covid, but happy to risk getting flattened by a vehicle as they have no common road sense, makes me smile, idiots

 

[Mickyb123]

Have to agree on the last post. Apparently the cost of a bike is fine, cost of lights far too much to spend. (I do mean the minority of course)
Road rules for a lot of scooter riders do seem to be a mystery! Yet in the event of an accident it’s obviously the motorist never the person dressed all in black with no lights having just run through a red traffic light on a busy junction riding and electric scooter.
But they are not on a bus so safe from C19

 

[andyinluton]

From 5 January (first day of term) our school street is closed at drop off and pick up times with ANPR cameras.

Recent bus gate cameras raised £3,000,000 from generous motorists for the benefit of Lewisham council taxpayers. I wonder how much cash this camera can raise.

Lewisham council issued more than £3m in fines since introduction of low traffic schemes in summer

The Lewisham and Lee Green LTN, a set of road barriers which aim to reduce through-traffic, was brought in under Covid-19 emergency transport measures in June and has received mixed feedback. …

londonnewsonline.co.uk

The road outside my office in Covent Garden has a bollard that is put up at each end to cover school start & end times & works well - I am totally in agreement with this.

What I am not in agreement with is the Low Traffic Schemes, I thought all roads were open to all motorists, why should some NIMBYs stop me driving down "their" road.
Perhaps all residents in Luton should agree that we don't like others using the M1 through Bedfordshire as its causing local pollution, so lets limit its use to Bedfordshire residents only. Where do you want to draw the line?

 

[WelshGas]

Has anyone bought an electric scooter for their van? I’ve been looking at this https://campingsecrets.co.uk/riley-rs1-electric-scooter-review/ but I’m not sure about charging it when away.
Thinking it may be better than a folding bike.

To answer your original question regarding charging whilst camping.
No problem on Mains Hookup.
If not on EHU then you could use the built in 150 w Inverter with a suitable plug adapter. The supplied charger outputs 42v and 2 amps so total 84w well within specs of the 150 w inverter, but would take some 14+ amps over 2 hrs from the Leisure Batteries.

 

[Amarillo]

The road outside my office in Covent Garden has a bollard that is put up at each end to cover school start & end times & works well - I am totally in agreement with this.

What I am not in agreement with is the Low Traffic Schemes, I thought all roads were open to all motorists, why should some NIMBYs stop me driving down "their" road.
Perhaps all residents in Luton should agree that we don't like others using the M1 through Bedfordshire as its causing local pollution, so lets limit its use to Bedfordshire residents only. Where do you want to draw the line?

A young girl just two streets away from where we live was killed by motorists’ pollution. No road is actually closed in LTNs as far as I know as they are fully accessible to all sections by one route or another. They do however have modal filters preventing their use as a through road by larger vehicles while allowing smaller vehicles such as mobility scooters to pass freely.

The issue of local streets being used by through traffic has been made worse in recent years by live traffic satellite navigation systems directing through traffic along streets never designed for through traffic. The LTNs are designed to return local streets to local people. However, I do think that residents of a LTN should be free to pass bus gates by means of a resident’s vehicle permit with the registration plate in the ANPR computer.

The road we live on is particularly badly effected with through traffic using it as a means to avoid the A20/South Circular roundabout. The heavy road traffic noise begins at about 6am weekdays and subsides at about 10am. It’s not so bad in the afternoon due to a no right turn onto the A20.

Lewisham propose 18 LTNs across the borough keeping all through traffic on TFL roads and borough ‘A’ and ‘B’ roads.

 

[Aidy P]

To answer your original question regarding charging whilst camping.
No problem on Mains Hookup.
If not on EHU then you could use the built in 150 w Inverter with a suitable plug adapter. The supplied charger outputs 42v and 2 amps so total 84w well within specs of the 150 w inverter, but would take some 14+ amps over 2 hrs from the Leisure Batteries.

Thanks @WelshGas. That’s useful info. We tend not to be very power hungry with the van and also have solar on the roof. A couple of hours charge is very manageable... particularly when we’re in sunnier climates.

@JoeJuice which one have you got please?

 

[soulstyledevon]

I would wait for the legality issue with Scooters before committing.
Does anyone know what the story is over the continent with regards to Scooters and if they’re legal to use...?

To be honest, I’m sitting on the fence with them.
I see the merits and I’m all for less car dependency.
But, we need to move more, physically and we need better infrastructure...

 

[westfalia]

I would wait for the legality issue with Scooters before committing.
Does anyone know what the story is over the continent with regards to Scooters and if they’re legal to use...?

To be honest, I’m sitting on the fence with them.
I see the merits and I’m all for less car dependency.
But, we need to move more, physically and we need better infrastructure...

Many Cities in germany have had them a while now,
easy to use after the app is downloaded, scan your scooter,
use it , pay for the time used and then leave it, you can leave it
anywhere.
You can use it anywhere too with a bit of common sense, that could be tricky in
the Uk though

 

[westfalia]

Costs 20 cents per minute in Frankfurt.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Many Cities in germany have had them a while now,
easy to use after the app is downloaded, scan your scooter,
use it , pay for the time used and then leave it, you can leave it
anywhere.
You can use it anywhere too with a bit of common sense, that could be tricky in
the Uk though
View attachment 70977

Leave it anywhere...?
What, am I missing something?

 

[andyinluton]

Not missing anything - just go to Nottingham & you cant help but fall over them left literally anywhere. The second its off hire its not your problem so just dump it wherever suits you. Invariably on the pavement outside the pub your going to, ready for the drunk punters to trip over on the way out.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Ok
I think I see where your coming from.
Might help if people actually buy and own them. We have similar thing but at Warwick Uni where I work, but instead with bikes. Sort of Borris bike style.
They do get abandoned...

 

[Corradobrit]

These rental bikes/scooters are a blight on the city where I live in Dallas. They get dumped across pathways and in ditches. These sharing schemes just don't work well from my experience.

 

[WelshGas]

Better to have a system where they have to be Docked to take off hire. So until it is docked you continue paying.

 

[Borris]

I would wait for the legality issue with Scooters before committing.
Does anyone know what the story is over the continent with regards to Scooters and if they’re legal to

I read an article recently about electric scooter use in Paris. Alas, I have been unable to find it. The gist of the piece was that their use had become widespread across that city and that they had become a right PITA. I remember that article saying something like; now the Genie had been let out of the bottle the problem would be difficult to get under control.

I haven't been to Paris in recent years so cannot comment further.

 

[Corradobrit]

I read an article recently about electric scooter use in Paris. Alas, I have been unable to find it. The gist of the piece was that their use had become widespread across that city and that they had become a right PITA. I remember that article saying something like; now the Genie had been let out of the bottle the problem would be difficult to get under control.

I haven't been to Paris in recent years so cannot comment further.

So now you have to dodge dog poop and abandoned scooters when out and about in Paris. Sounds like a proper obstacle course.

 

[Aidy P]

This was in the news https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-england-tyne-55398103
I don’t think it is the correct approach for trialing scooters. Wouldn’t the Highway Code be a better start and work it back from there? I seem to remember it references bikes already.
What about mobility scooters? How are they ‘policed’? Some of them are very nippy.

 

[Amarillo]

Better to have a system where they have to be Docked to take off hire. So until it is docked you continue paying.

Have you ever tried finding a Boris Bike dock anywhere near Waterloo Station at 6pm on Friday?

 

[66tim99]

These rental bikes/scooters are a blight on the city where I live in Dallas. They get dumped across pathways and in ditches. These sharing schemes just don't work well from my experience.

The cycle hire scheme works well in London ... but you have to return them to a station, cant leave them any old where

 

[66tim99]

Have you ever tried finding a Boris Bike dock anywhere near Waterloo Station at 6pm on Friday?

The vans do a great job of ensuring no dock is entirely full or empty, but that’s probably the hardest place in all of London at any time of the week (in normal times) The app is great, helps you find a spot ... but at the moment you don’t need it.

 

[WelshGas]

Have you ever tried finding a Boris Bike dock anywhere near Waterloo Station at 6pm on Friday?

No.
But cities where they run a system of leave the bike/scooter wherever you want seem to have many problems and in some places the problem was so bad then the system was abandoned.
In some Chinese systems that had such a system the authorities picked up the bikes and stored them. The Hire companies could retrieve the bikes for a charge but didn't bother so they were crushed for scrap. It was cheaper/easier to provide new bikes than pay/collect and check the bikes that had been collected.

The Bike-Share Oversupply in China: Huge Piles of Abandoned and Broken Bicycles

Gigantic piles of impounded, abandoned, and broken bicycles have become a familiar sight in many Chinese cities, after a rush to build up its new bike-sharing industry vastly overreached.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[Phil P]

Has anyone bought an electric scooter for their van? I’ve been looking at this https://campingsecrets.co.uk/riley-rs1-electric-scooter-review/ but I’m not sure about charging it when away.
Thinking it may be better than a folding bike.

My brother in law just got a Pure scooter and it’s very good, had a good ride of it yesterday. We have a couple of Brompton bikes, the scooter is lighter and more compact but no exercise. Our local authority has hire scooters available on the streets so must ok to use them.

 

[ArunAlec]

My brother in law just got a Pure scooter and it’s very good, had a good ride of it yesterday. We have a couple of Brompton bikes, the scooter is lighter and more compact but no exercise. Our local authority has hire scooters available on the streets so must ok to use them.

Unless the law has changed I think it is illegal to use them on the public highway and pavement unless they are part of a hire scheme. They can only be used legally on private land ...... at the moment.