How to make e-Scooters Work

In the last few years, various alternatives of mobility pop up that integrates advance technology, including e-scooters. this welcomes the discussion of how cities can support, manage and regulate the various alternatives in the public roads. Field and Jon (2021) then explains how the balance of responsiveness and caution that City of Brisbane is one successful story of how city can welcome such technological disruption. 

The fast pace societal change that technology brings to the public space has to be recognise not just a technical problem by the public authorities. It is mostly a governance problem, thus defining roles and responsibilities between the public and private sector is crucial. In the case of City of Brisbane, authorities gave short term, conditional approval as soon as the e-scooter pops up. This mechanism allows the e-scooter to operate but also gives clear penalties to the managing company if anything bad happens. On the other hand, a close monitoring by the public authorities allows the regulation and condition to adapt and changes as the public users interact with the e-scooter. 

Field and Jon highlight the importance of this project as a medium for public engagement, as managing this technological disruption relies more on the soft aspects of planning. Setting up effective communication channel between the private company, citizen and public authorities can be a way to better the public awareness and education on the use of these technology in the public roads. In the case of e-scooter, creating safe, accessible, affordable and sustainable use of the public roads are a collaborative efforts of everyone using and managing the public road. 

Reference:

Field, C., & Jon, I. (2021). E-Scooters: A New Smart Mobility Option? The Case of Brisbane, Australia. Planning Theory & Practice, 1-29.

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