News / e-scooters
Hire scooters removed from areas of Clifton Village
The menace of a melee of hire scooters has led to complaints that the vehicles are regularly blocking pavements across Bristol.
Voi vehicles need to be parked by users in specific places, but some of these “geofenced” areas are on narrow pavements.
Cliftonwood resident Jess Siggers said that she “frigging hates these things”, referring to the e-scooters and tweeting a photo of more than a dozen them blocking the pavement on Sion Hill close to the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
is needed now More than ever
https://twitter.com/porthjess/status/1375029362257506304
In response to the complaints, a councillor in Clifton Village worked with officers at Bristol City Council to withdraw permission for Voi to allow their scooters to park on Sion Hill “until they have can manage their numbers safely”.
The Swedish company were given 24 hours to cancel the parking zone and on Friday morning, users in the app were unable to hire scooters due to “technical difficulties”.
No scooters were available to hire in Bristol on Friday morning
Green Party councillor for Clifton, Paula O’Rourke, said on Thursday evening: “I am very grateful for the support from BCC (Bristol City Council) as we could not endure another weekend like the last one.
“(Sion Hill) is a dangerous staggered junction with an ice cream van, so blocking the pavement and forcing pedestrians onto the road is unacceptable.
“With the relaxation of lockdown rules, Clifton will only get busier and, until Voi can assure us that they can cap the number of scooters at the site, they can’t park them there.”
Hundreds of e-scooters are now available for hire across Bristol
A Voi spokesperson told Bristol24/7 that “safety is a top priority” for Voi and geofenced areas – including no ride, slow ride and mandatory parking areas – “are carefully developed in close collaboration with the West of England Combined Authority”.
The spokesperson added: “As with any other service, there are always adjustments that need to be made, and Voi takes swift action to ensure riders, road users and pedestrians, particularly vulnerable ones, are safe and have the best possible experience with the introduction of this new, green mode of transport.
“Moving forward, Voi will continue to monitor e-scooter activity on the ground, ensuring e-scooters are not a cause of nuisance.”
The e-scooter operator is now exploring new user features to ensure scooters are correctly parked and has launched a page where people can report any misplaced scooters: www.voiscooters.com/report/uk
Main photo: Martin Booth
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