CoHSAT member organisations Cyclox, Oxfordshire Cycling Network and Oxfordshire Liveable Streets are calling upon Oxfordshire County Council to introduce a significant expansion of the city’s shared E-bike and E-Scooter schemes, currently provided by Voi and Lime Bikes.
Shared E-bikes and E-scooters are a vital part of the solution to Oxford’s transport problems. Shared E -bikes have transformed cycling in London, attracting people to cycle for the first time, or to cycle more often. They have the potential to do the same in Oxford.
E-bikes and e-scooters are low cost and low emissions transport that have proved great additions to an inclusive transport system in many cities. Their low cost and no initial outlay makes them financially accessible. 13% of journeys by e-scooter are by disabled people. Approved rental schemes provide legal, regularly checked and monitored machines that are not involved in the vast majority of collisions.
Ian Loader, Chair of Cyclox said:
‘The introduction of the Congestion Charge creates an opportunity to expand the alternatives to car travel as a means to get into and around Oxford. Shared E-bikes and E-scooters must be one of those alternatives. Expanding the scheme means more than tinkering. It demands real ambition.’
E-bikes and E-scooters should serve every neighbourhood in the city. They need to connect the hospitals and every Park and Ride to the rest of the city. The schemes need to be extended to surrounding places such as Botley, Kennington, and Kidlington. They need to be planned into new business and housing developments, including the new football stadium.
Shared E-bike and E-scooter schemes not only need to expand. We also have to make them into a permanent and uncontroversial part of our city’s transport system. This requires two further steps to be taken.
First, schemes for shared E-bikes and E-scooters have to secure the acceptance of people who do not use them, and develop in ways that respect the needs of pedestrians, including those who have supported mobility needs. This means they should be ridden and parked on roads, never on pavements.
Ian Loader said: ‘So we are also calling for a large expansion of dedicated, on-road parking infrastructure available across the city centre, in every neighbourhood, everywhere the scheme serves. This will mean re-purposing some of the 1000s of parking spaces currently given over to cars across the city.’
Second, with adequate parking provision in place, E-bikes and E-Scooters need to be parked in dedicated bays, not strewn over the city. This requires the service providers to more firmly crack-down on the anti-social parking of their vehicles. If these steps are taken, we believe that shared E-bikes and E-scooters can take their place as a vital part of a clean, reliable, safe, and sustainable transport system for Oxford and Oxfordshire.
