Tom Williams and Ian Achurch
Minutes:
Ian Achurch said he welcomed this opportunity to speak to the forum. He had been involved with the launch of the scheme across the seven major towns of the county from Northampton to Burton Latimer. Each had their own challenges as they were very different sizes. Usually the scooters were focussed on major cities but there had been a desire to trial them in our towns and to be see what the challenges were.
The launch had been just over 12 months ago and Voi had been selected through a competitive tender process. They had proven very popular – 50k users making about 1 million journeys but this had not been without its challenges which is why it was a trial and they would continue to work with communities, police and Wardens to tackle them.
Tom introduced himself as the Voi Manager for Northamptonshire. Voi originated in Sweden with the idea of helping cities go green by getting people out of their cars and using more sustainable modes of transport. Voi had been carbon neutral since 2020 and had ambitions to be fully electric across the operation. E-scooters were not the be all against climate change but they could make a significant effect. The initial signs were very encouraging with a million journeys made across the county and over 40% of those were replacing car journeys. The knock on impact on pollution was a saving of 93k litres of gasoline and the resultant reduction of lung damaging matter that had not been released into the air. They had also been able to support people including 75k discounted or free rides for emergency services personnel.
The issues encountered could be classed in 3 categories as below:-
· Safe journey
· Responsible ridership
· Considerable parking
Steps to deal with issues included in person training sessions, online training, helmet giveaways along with a discount if people took a photo of themselves wearing their helmets. Policies and rules had been strengthened since the start of the trial to make sure people took responsibility and to ban those who didn’t want to abide by the rules. There was still some way to go regarding parking. Taking a photo of where the scooter had been parked with feedback being sent if inappropriately parked and potentially a fine as well. So far there had been 3,500 bans, some temporary others permanent. Over 5,000 fines had been issued for bad parking. Over 85% of rides now resulted in compliant parking compared with less than 60% in March.
Further improvements to the services included:
· Acoustic vehicle alert system to assist visually impaired assess where they were. A small fleet was being introduced to trial and a study was being done around the sound that would be best to use.
· Parking infra-structure with 25 parking racks being introduced across the county with 10 being installed this week. They were similar to cycle racks and RNIBP had help design the side panels. Painted parking bays had a similar result.
· Technology to recognise pavement riding so user could be banned. Looking at similar technology to recognise double riding.
Nigel stated that double rider and underaged use or riding on pavements was not permitted and he had previously reported incidents he had seen to Voi who had responded very well. He asked for everyone to do the same as Voi would be able to identify the user and take action. Private electric scooters were not permitted in a public space and police were taking enforcement action.
Voi scooters had a switch off system for no-ride areas such as Market Square and Abington Street.
Jatish stated that he had been annoyed at the scheme and why was the research around issues not undertaken beforehand. People rode on the pavement with no consideration for those with disabilities. He had been involved in a few incidents and had been abused by one user. He asked what happened with the fines and that he was not seeing helmets being used.
Ian responded that the all Voi scooters had individual reference numbers which was not mandatory in law but had been part of the learning and urged people to report any incidents they witnessed. Tom stated that fines ranged from £5 to £25 and were set centrally. The money collected went into running the system – all the photos taken were reviewed by a person paid for by the fines also it went towards developing and improving the scheme. Helmet use was not mandated by the Government but Voi would like the users to do so and incentivise them to do so.
Kit stated that they had witnessed scooters being parked on a pavement in a way that a wheelchair would not be able to get past but did not know what the rules were for parking on pavements that were too narrow. Tom replied that there were no rules around it but they had defined their own standards and would like to achieve a minimum of 1.5m. Mapping this was a challenge but when an incident was reported this would be looked at and, if it was too narrow, the whole road would be designated as no parking. Photos were also reviewed. He encouraged everyone to report as this would help make the changes. Kit asked if they got moved when parked incorrectly, Tom responded that a team went out regularly to move them generally within a few hours and they were looking at how they could do this better. Ian stated it would be reviewed from a Highways perspective, also to avoid dropped kerbs for incentivised schemes.
Jatish asked if higher fines would not achieve better outcomes. Tom responded that they were set at that level centrally and used across Europe. £25 was about the same amount as a monthly pass. Ian added that they needed to look at whether the actions were having the desired effect. When the scheme was first launched they were seen as a bit of a novelty but now most rides were between Monday and Friday during the morning and evening commuting peak times.
Debbie stated that most of complaints she had heard were not necessarily that the rider had parked them badly, but that someone had consequently come passed and tossed them across the walkway. Tom responded that there were sensors in the scooter that can detect whether it is upright or not so that they can quickly respond and move it.
How to contact Voi and report issues:-
Report a Scooter: Online form that allows reporting of poor parking, anti-social behaviour and submission of comments, complaints and suggestions.
Link: https://www.voiscooters.com/report/uk
Support Email: email address for Voi support team who will do their best to respond to your message and will triage it to the appropriate team in the UK as required.
Email: support@voiapp.io
Support telephone: Phone line to our support team who will listen to your concerns and pass the information along to the relevant team in the UK.
Tel: 0800 376 8179