News / Transport
Parking bays for e-scooters coming to Bristol
Parking bays for electric scooters are planned to be installed in Bristol and the wider area after a raft of complaints.
Pedestrians and people in wheelchairs will be all too familiar with clambering around a scooter parked in the middle of the pavement, but new bays could soon help the situation.
Construction is due to start by the end of the year in Bristol, Bath and South Gloucestershire, although it’s unclear how many bays there will be in total.
The West of England Combined Authority is responsible for managing the electric scooter and electric bike trial run by Dott.
A councillor for Bedminster said e-scooters are common complaint among local residents – photo: Betty Woolerton
An update was given to councillors on the West of England audit committee on Monday.
The combined authority is working with local councils in the region on where the bays will be created. £1m has been set aside for creating them, but more could be spent in future too.
Labour councillor for Bedminster Emily Clarke said: “Residents in my ward complain about it all the time.
“My understanding of where we are in the process at the moment is that we are basically just working out locations for those.”
Rental e-scooters are still technically a trial, which began in 2020. At some point the government will decide on whether to legalise them permanently.
Permission to run rental schemes is currently set to run out in 2028, although it has been extended several times so far.
Liberal Democrat councillor for Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze Stephen Williams added: “Lots of residents are unhappy with scooters and bikes being parked all over the place and not in designated bays.
“But we are effectively making permanent something that legally is still a trial.”
Parking bays will be created both off the street and on the street – photo: WECA
Construction is due to start in November lasting until March 2027.
Since September, 52 additional marked parking bays have been installed across the West of England, a 260 per cent increase.
And new fines for poor parking have driven up standards recently, according to the combined authority.
In February, Helen Godwin, the mayor of the West of England, said that the fines were making the region’s streets.
The mayor said: “We have already made progress in striking a better balance through our Scoot Safe campaign, tackling valid concerns about e-bike and e-scooter parking and riding.
“The fines that we have introduced are making a real difference and have made our streets tidier, which is particularly good news for Disabled people.”
Alex Seabrook is a local democracy reporter for Bristol
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read next:
Our newsletters emailed directly to you
