Walking up the hill near his house, past one of Sydney’s largest police stations, Kareem Tawansi always pretended to push himself with his back foot.

This is an Oscar-worthy performance given that its electric scooter can drive itself at a speed of around 20 kilometers per hour.

He is one of half a million people in NSW who legally own an electric scooter, but cannot legally use it.

Sliding in suits and heels, racing through the far corners of the city and bumping along country roads, these e-scooter riders are the low-speed mavericks of the streets – and it’s likely they’ll soon be legitimized .

This week, the New South Wales government unexpectedly announced plans to legalize e-scooters as part of its new e-micromobility action plan.

“Finally,” said Mr. Tawansi who, in an unfamiliar suburb, was stopped in spectacular fashion by a highway patrol.

He received two fines… one for using an unregistered vehicle and another for wearing the wrong type of helmet, costing a whopping $1,046.

NSW Police data paints a confusing picture of what is currently considered legal.

Last year, 100 people were fined for using an e-scooter on a footpath, and 88 people were also fined for using an e-scooter on the road.

Mr. Tawansi treats his electric scooter like anything else on the cycle path, where cyclists often pass in a platoon.

“It’s funny, I know exactly how long it’s going to take, there’s basically no footprint,” he said.

While the rule change primarily affects private e-scooter users, it also paves the way for shared e-scooter providers, like Neuron and Beam, to establish a presence in Sydney.

Already implemented in cities like Canberra and Brisbane, and recently abolished in the city of Melbourne, shared programs have come under scrutiny, particularly when it comes to security.

Would shared electric scooters work in Sydney?

While the state government provides regulation, shared e-scooter providers deal directly with local councils to negotiate contracts and get their scooters on the streets.

Already, the City of Sydney – which encompasses much of the CBD and inner east – has decided not to participate, citing “road safety” and “clutter” on footpaths.

Inner West Council, which covers another large part of the city, recently rejected a State Government proposal to establish an electric scooter trial as an alternative transport option while the Sydenham-Bankstown train line is closed for renovation.

Both councils will closely monitor the results of shared e-scooter trials in Kogarah, south of the CBD, following similar trials at Sydney Olympic Park, Lake Macquarie and the Australian Botanic Garden at Mount Annan in 2022.

A spokesperson for NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen said shared projects were “an important part of the mix” for people who do not own their own electric mobility scooter or bike, and said that the government would “encourage access to shared devices”, while keeping an eye on a “range of security issues”.

It is hoped that a shared electric scooter system would provide a legitimate option for commuters trying to get to transport hubs like train stations, while reducing emissions and traffic.

“We’ve had all these wonderful public transport projects like the Sydney Metro, but within a few months of it opening people start complaining about not being able to get to the station and not being able to park,” said Stephen Greaves of the University of Sydney. » said the Institute for Transport and Logistics Studies.

“It could be an option between walking and driving. It’s often more efficient to run,” he said.

In Canberra, public uptake of shared electric scooters has been rapid, with operators Neuron and Beam estimating they have each seen 1.9 million trips on their scooters since their rollout four years ago.

It’s a similar story in Brisbane, the first city in Australia to allow shared e-scooter operators, with companies previously reporting around 5,000 users per day in the CBD.

But in Melbourne, shared electric scooters never really stood a chance, abandoned by Melbourne City Council six months into the trial due to safety concerns.

Professor Greaves said it would be surprising if shared e-scooter operators did not try to capitalize on the legalization of e-scooters in NSW and set their sights on Sydney.

“It’s the biggest state, the biggest population and potentially the biggest profits,” he said.

Research indicates that the majority of Sydney residents support the legalization of e-scooters, subject to some sensible rules being put in place, such as requiring helmets to be worn.

Generally speaking, according to the data, opinion towards electric scooters worsens as a person gets older.

As electric scooters proliferate, so do safety concerns

Some private e-scooter users are reluctant to support a shared e-scooter system, for fear that bad behavior will further reinforce an already suspect view of e-scooters as hell on two wheels.

“If they have a negative impact on the use of private scooters, then I don’t want to see them.”

A Melbourne emergency doctor said he was receiving between 30 and 40 patents a month resulting from e-scooter incidents while the shared e-scooter trial was underway in the city.

In Victoria, seven people have died in incidents involving e-scooters since 2021.

Thousands of offenses were also issued, mainly for not wearing a helmet, driving on a pedestrian path or carrying a passenger.

In Brisbane, reports of emergency department-related injuries have almost doubled in two years.

The Queensland Government is working to introduce random breath testing for motorcyclists, finding current methods of checking if someone is drunk – which includes an online questionnaire – insufficient.

It’s one of many changes that boards and states will need to make to try to make e-scooters safer.

Professor Greaves said given so many people in NSW were already using them, it made sense for the state government to ask these questions too.