In 2024, Darebin Council resolved to spend $50,000 of ratepayer money on a trial for e-scooter hire operators. 

This petition calls on Darebin Council to reverse this decision. It is wasteful, pointless and irresponsible.

 

1. WASTE OF RATEPAYERS’ MONEY

The trial will benefit large multinational companies. The community’s rates should benefit the community, not private businesses. 

Recent e-scooter hire schemes have been trialled and ditched in the nearby City of Melbourne and Yarra City Council, as well as cities around Australia and globally - from Perth, to Paris, to Copenhagen...

The City of Yarra found that the cost of responding to complaints alone exceeded $180,000 in a single year! 

We already have all the information we need. Why does Darebin need its own expensive and harmful experiment just to make the same findings? 

2. ENVIRONMENTAL

There is no sound evidence that e-scooter trips replace car trips, therefore any claim of sustainability benefit is spurious at best.

A City of Melbourne survey of people using shared e-scooters found that only 3% of e-scooter trips replaced private car trips, with a further 8% replacing taxis and rideshare. The huge majority (80%) of e-scooter trips replaced walking or public transport.

This would mean that e-scooters most likely add to the carbon footprint in metropolitan areas.

3. SAFETY

In a single year, Royal Melbourne Hospital's emergency department treated around 250 e-scooter riders and 9 pedestrians hit by e-scooters.  Of these hospitalisations, 21 experienced major trauma and one later died from a brain injury. There have been further recent deaths, including children and young people.

Dr Sarah Whitelaw, an emergency physician from the Australian Medical Association, called the above situation “horrifying” and stated that around half of those who went to hospital suffered head injuries.

4. AMENITY AND ORDER

We’ve all seen e-scooters discarded on footpaths, driveways, parks and even in waterways. This makes our community messy and presents a further safety hazard. It’s worse for the elderly and people with disabilities. The City of Yarra was taken to VCAT on the basis of the discrimination caused by hire e-scooters left on pathways. If the same thing happens in Darebin, that will be MORE ratepayers’ dollars wasted on lawyers and court proceedings. 

We all have the right to mobility and access around our streets and footpaths. 

 

WE CALL ON DAREBIN COUNCIL TO STOP THE WASTE, START TREATING OUR RATEPAYERS WITH RESPECT AND SCRAP THIS POINTLESS E-SCOOTER TRIAL.

 

Why I made this petition...

I have lived in Darebin for nearly 20 years and served on the Darebin Disability Advisory Committee from 2015 to 2021.

I am a road trauma survivor. As a result of this road trauma I live with significant disabilities, including an acquired brain injury. It has changed the course of my life, and I am startled by the level of brain injury being inflicted on others due to shared e-scooters.

I am also a Registered Nurse and have worked in a public hospital neurotrauma ward.  The impacts of head injuries and brain injuries often bring about lifelong changes to a person’s thinking, feeling, processing and demeanour.

The increase in such injuries as a result of e-scooter hire schemes is not something that we should tolerate.