London e-scooter rental trial expands as TfL publishes new data

London’s e-scooter rental trial continues to grow, with Wandsworth Council becoming the 11th borough to join the scheme. 

This expansion adds 35 km² and around 170 new rental e-scooter parking bays to the trial area, bringing the total trial area to approximately 300 km² with 1,300 parking bays.

The trial, a collaboration between Transport for London (TfL), London Councils, and e-scooter operators Voi and Lime, has seen significant growth since its launch in June 2021. More than five million journeys have been taken, totaling over 10 million km – enough to travel around the world 250 times.

The scheme has also seen a 27% increase in customers taking multiple rides, indicating rising demand for e-scooters as a sustainable transport option. Around 7% of these trips have replaced car journeys.

TfL has worked with participating boroughs and operators to expand the trial, with Lambeth and Ealing recently extending it across their entire boroughs. This expansion aims to provide greener, safer, and more sustainable journey options for Londoners.

Safety remains a key priority for the trial, claims TfL. Recent data indicates that only 0.0004% of rental e-scooter trips resulted in serious injury. The trial has also seen a decrease in operator-reported serious injuries, with 1.9 fewer serious injuries per million km traveled in Phase 2 compared to Phase 1. Furthermore, a new analysis shows a year-on-year decrease in the injury risk rate over the first three years of the trial, and there have been no fatalities. Operators report that over 94% of trips comply with parking regulations.

Rental e-scooters are the only legal way to ride an e-scooter on public roads in London. These vehicles adhere to high safety standards, including a 12.5mph speed limit, larger wheels, and mandatory lights, exceeding national standards. In contrast, private e-scooters, which do not have to meet any minimum safety standards, remain illegal for use on public roads and cycle lanes. New analysis confirms that rental e-scooters have been involved in significantly fewer injuries than private, illegal e-scooters.

TfL continues to incorporate learnings from the trial to improve safety and explore new technologies, such as pavement riding detection and AI for better parking compliance. The goal is to enhance the experience for both users and non-users of the service.

Says Will Norman, London’s Walking & Cycling Commissioner:

“The data clearly shows that the rental e-scooter trial has helped to boost sustainable and active travel transport in our city, with over five million journeys made since it launched, and it has also laid bare the significant difference in safety between private and rental scooters. It’s really pleasing Wandsworth Council has become the latest borough to join the trial as we continue to build a greener, safer and more accessible city for everyone.”