E-bike and e-scooter provider Beam Mobility is pulling the plug on NSW’s first council-run micromobility trial in the state’s Hunter region.
“Beam Mobility will be pausing its shared micromobility operations in Lake Macquarie from 24 May 2024,” the company said in a statement.
The company announced the trial two years ago, saying it would initially introduce 500 e-bikes followed by a fleet of 100 e-scooters, with the app-based service featuring pay-as you go rates.
Beam says 30,000 kilometres were travelled and just shy of 40,000 trips made on shared e-scooters and e-bikes since December 2022.
However a spokeswoman told Government News the trial area had been limited to just several bike paths in the LGA.
“Looking at the operational area that we had, there were limitations to where our riders could travel, we received that feedback,” she said.
“We still believe there’s a need for shared micromobility pretty much everywhere so for us its really about assessing the operational positions on the ground that will make operations commercially viable.
“Riders will embrace e-scooters and definitely want to, but they also want to go where they want to go.”
Beam was assessing a way forward, she said.
“We’ll continue to be in touch with council and see what happens moving forward.”
The trail was being jointly run by Transport for NSW, Lake Macquarie Council and economic development company Dantia.
In a statement to Government News, Lake Macquarie said it understood Beam’s decision to remove its devices from the LGA.
“We thank Beam for their participation in the trials in Lake Macquarie and will continue to closely monitor trials in other areas across NSW,” the statement said.
A spokesman for Dantia confirmed there had been feedback in relation to limitations on the trial area and said Dantia was supportive of Beam’s decision.
The company remained open to future trials with other providers, he said.
Beam has no plans to quit other trials across the state including in Kogarh, Armidale, Forster, Tuncurry and Albury, the company spokeswoman said.
Last month it announced plans to launch a 12-month e-scooter trial in Bendigo in Victoria from late May.
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E-bikes and scooters were never going to be useful or viable in Lake Macquarie. The city of Lake Macquarie is not a concentrated area like many of the European and Asian cities where rental
e-transport is useful. Coupled with the random abandonment of the purple bikes and scooters spoiling the natural beauty of Lake Macquarie and the low usage Beam bikes were a blight on our city and lake foreshore. Perhaps now we can resume our walks, riding our own bikes a scooters and not have the surroundings spoiled by purple ranks and randomly dumped purple rubbish.
Failure is a Government level culture issue. Today We continue to produce cities , renewal of cities and many newer suburbs that are essentially Designed to be car dependent.
Councils and State transport and our Planning departments.
Clearly tell the public about active transport and words about 15 minute or 30 minute cities. But they Don’t actually make any provision for the infrastructure that necessary for eScouter or eBikes or strangely any form of active transport infrastructure.
Particularly on Greenfield sites and lately any Brownfield sites that get these mandatory new civic renewal plans that add people/ residential buildings
But No funded plan to provide not even one metre of additional safe place to ride!