The Georges River Council has launched a 12-month shared e-scooter trial in the suburb of Kogarah in partnership with Beam, Australia and New Zealand’s largest micromobility company.
The 12-month shared e-scooter trial marks the first metro Sydney council-led e-scooter trial, and the sixth trial underway as part of the New South Wales shared e-scooter scheme.
Hard to miss, residents and visitors of Kogarah aged over 16 will be able to hire one of 60 purple Beam Saturn 5 e-scooters and helmets. The e-scooters will be available for hire between 5am and midnight, 7 days a week, and accessible simply by downloading the Beam app and scanning the QR code on the e-scooters.
Users will only be able to use the e-scooters through the app service and will need pay only $1 to unlock and from $0.51 per minute to ride.
Beam has also developed the “Beam Safe Academy”, a safety education and enforcement program which delivers a pre-trip in-app safety briefing and safety quiz, ensuring riders abide by local riding rules and safe handling of the e-scooters.
The Saturn 5 e-scooters come equipped with GPS tracking, geofencing, and speed limiting technology, so that users cannot override local safety rules and limits. Specifically, Beam’s high precision geofencing technology ensures that riders remain within operational zones, reduce speed in “slow zones”, and are not able to simply leave the e-scooter in no parking zones.
“We’re excited to be bringing our purple e-scooter fleet to metro Sydney for the first time, giving residents and locals more options in how they travel around,” said Ned Dale, Beam’s NSW operations manager.
“We’re committed to investing in the local community, with new technology to improve safety and accessibility of our e-scooters, and new community programs to enable local businesses and community groups to unlock the benefits of shared micromobility.
“Safety is our first priority, and we are committed to enforcing safe riding, in collaboration with the police.
“We invest in rider education, prevention and deterrence, but above all, even the safest e-scooter requires a safer rider, and we ask that people do the right thing – that means wear a helmet, follow the road rules.”
The trial will limit which e-scooters are provided in approved trial areas (a map of the e-scooter trial area can be viewed here), with privately owned e-scooters not to be used in public areas across New South Wales.
Beam’s Saturn 5 e-scooters will be limited to 20km/h on roads within the trial area which have a speed limit of 50km/h or less, and the e-scooters will not be permitted on footpaths.
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Moreover, Beam’s “Pedestrian Shield” helps to accurately and reliably identify whether the e-scooter is travelling on footpaths, streets, or bike lanes.
“It is very exciting to rollout the shared e-scooter trial today in Kogarah,” said Sam Elmir, Georges River Council mayor.
“It was encouraging to see the level of interest from residents and visitors at the two free Beam Safe Academy e-scooter sessions at Kogarah Town Square recently.
“We are eager to see results of usage and riders’ feedback captured from Beam, and also feedback from residents and visitors through Council’s Your Say community consultation which is now open.
“Public feedback will give us an understanding of the future viability with e-scooters in the Georges River area, and help inform the future of micro mobility in NSW.”
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.