237 --- Time for an e-scooter
Well... I’ve done it! I’m now the proud owner of an electric scooter.
These type of vehicles have caused controversy in Auckland but that didn’t stop me from acquiring one. I did the calculations and I will be able to cut my transport costs in half until the end of next year compared with the costs of public transport or car. As a student, this is a fairly significant economic incentive! (not to mention the environmental benefits of using an electric vehicle) With already 140 kilometres clocked in, I have been using the scooter as my daily driver to and from the city, it’s taking me less than 20mins to get into the city centre. I mean these things are convenient! They travel 25kph with a 30km range, I ride it on the footpath when there is heavy road traffic and on the road when there is heavy footpath traffic. The scooter folds up and can be carried indoors and put on charge whilst I’m at my University. I only have two concerns with these scooters,
They are not allowed on cycle lanes For some incredibly preposterous reason, the scooters are not allowed on cycle lanes that are part of the road. They are only allowed on the ‘edge of the roadway’ (Keep in mind that the ‘edge of the roadway’ becomes a cycle lane willy-nilly in Auckland). I have contacted an MP about this.
Auckland Council wants a footpath speed-limit No, if it is 10 o’clock at night and there is nobody on the footpath, it does not make sense to restrict the speed of e-scooters to 10Kph. In addition to this, my scooter doesn’t even have a speedometer so I cannot even assess my speed against this numerical value! By the way, the New Zealand Transport Agency already has sensible scooter rules for the footpath.
I am totally against footpath speed limits for e-scooters and will be pushing for the scooters to be allowed on cycle lanes (I have submitted a petition to parliament on this issue). PS: I would like to form a transport club at AUT, so if any of you peeps are interested, flick me a message.
