A new survey has found that 48 per cent of people in England and Wales support the use of shared e-scooters amid the ongoing trials.
Conducted by findoutnow.co.uk and commissioned by e-scooter operator Voi, the research found that almost half of the population back the new mode of transport, with just 24 per cent in opposition.
Of the existing riders surveyed, almost a quarter said that e-scooters had replaced cars as their primary form of transport.
Around 17 per cent of commuters now use e-scooters as their sole mode of transport, while 31 per cent now an e-scooter alongside public transport to get into work.
Finally, 52 per cent of respondents agreed that cities should give more space to bikes, e-scooters and pedestrians.
The research comes less than a year after the start of the UK e-scooter trials in July 2020, and ahead of the London rollout on 7 June. The trials were recently extended until 31 March 2022.
Findoutnow.co.uk surveyed more than 2,400 people between 20 and 21 May in England and Wales.
In response to the findings, Voi UK and Ireland general manager Jack Samler said that further “awareness of the transformative power of e-scooters” needed to be raised.
“With any new form of transport, education and awareness are essential to increasing usage,” he told Zag.
“Operators need to continue to invest in education to help potential users, the public and policy makers understand the benefits of using e-scooters. E-scooters offer a green, affordable and fun way to travel that can make our cities better places to live in the long term. By raising awareness of the transformative power of e-scooters, we will encourage more people to leave behind the car and embrace this environmentally-friendly form of travel.”
“Users are the best e-scooter ambassadors. At Voi, we will continue to focus on making our service as easy and seamless to use as possible, offering them a selection of fully charged safe vehicles that are close by whenever they need. By doing this, we will be encouraging more people to adopt e-scooters as one of their modes of transport, replacing more short car journeys.
“Safety is another important element in the mix. Besides investing in technology to tackle bad riding behaviour, we will continue to invest in educating our riders on how to ride and park a scooter safely. As lockdown restrictions ease in the UK, Voi will be hosting a series of monthly educational events in the main cities where we have trials. Attendees will complete the RideLikeVoila riding school, receive ride demonstrations and training in person, and they will be able to take a free Voi helmet with them.”
With the trials in the UK set to run for another nine months, Samler added that Voi will continue expanding its service, in line with the aims of the local authorities.
“We are seeing incredible demand for our services, with rider per scooter per day increasing, even as we increase the number of scooters on the ground,” he said.
“Our monthly ride numbers have doubled last month and increased six times since the start of the year.
“With rider demand expected to continue to grow as UK restrictions continue to lift, Voi will continue to work closely with the local councils to meet demand, ensuring expansions are in line with their local objectives.”
