The UK city of Nottingham has appointed European micromobility operator Dott for the re-launch of its shared e-scooter service.
Dott is to operate 1,300 e-scooters which will be available to hire from around 300 mandatory parking locations.
The service comes after Nottingham’s previous operator Superpedestrian went into liquidation in December 2023 and removed all of its e-scooters from the city.
“We are excited to kick off 2025 by working with Nottingham City Council to launch 1,300 Dott e-scooters in early Spring. This service will build upon our successful micromobility services in the West of England, Essex, Milton Keynes and over 400 cities across Europe and the Middle East,” Dott’s UK General Manager Peadar Golden told Zag Daily.
“Parking is a key priority for Nottingham, and we are working with the council to deploy a combination of education, technology, and network improvements to ensure streets stay orderly and clutter-free.”
Nottingham City Council’s Transport Team said that the new service will take into account key lessons about e-scooter parking learned from other local and national trials in the UK.
The council recently used money from the Transforming Cities Fund to install 275 racks for e-scooters and e-bikes to improve parking. Furthermore, the city’s original e-scooter parking spots have been audited and reviewed by the council’s road safety team and those that did not meet the parking criteria will not be reactivated.
“Additional measures we plan to introduce to encourage tidy parking include parking caps to limit parking when the ‘bay’ is full, incentives to encourage riders to use nearby parking spots that are under capacity and increasing our patrols to rebalance the fleet in busy areas,” the Transport Team at Nottingham City Council told Zag Daily.
“Dott will be hiring a local team that will patrol 24 hours a day between them to re-balance e-scooters and collect any that are abandoned or tipped over.”
The e-scooters will be fitted with technology that prohibits them from being used outside Nottingham City Council boundaries, and the council can also create ‘low speed’ or ‘no go’ zones.
“Nottingham will be a testing ground for some of our newest parking compliance technologies, which we look forward to discussing over the coming months. We hope this trial will provide a positive case for the UK to pass legislation legalising e-scooters,” said Peadar.
Dott’s contract with Nottingham City Council is over a five-year period. A break clause has been included in May 2026 – when the UK’s national trials are set to end – to conclude the scheme if required. If national trials are extended or the legislation is brought forward, then the council can extend the contract with Dott in line with the five-year deal.
The e-scooters will operate on a pay-as-you-go service, costing 29p per minute to ride with no unlock fee. Pass options will be available including £2.99 a month for unlimited £2 rides, and discounts will apply to NHS workers, people on low incomes, students and other eligible groups.
“Over 2025, we will continue to work with local authorities to understand how our e-scooter and e-bike services can help them achieve their local transport goal,” Peadar said.
