An inner east council in Melbourne will limit parking and inappropriate use of e-scooters following complaints from the community.
In a statement, the council said e-scooters continue to be ridden and dumped in a way that blocks footpaths, putting pedestrians at risk, especially the visually impaired and disabled.
“As a way of helping prevent inappropriate use and parking of e-scooters, council resolved to geofence all footpaths narrower than two metres across the municipality by the end of January—prioritising hotspots for e-scooter trips and events.”
Shared e-scooters have been operating within the Yarra City Council area since 2022 as part of a joint agreement with the City of Port Phillip.
The geofence, or virtual boundary, is created around a geographic area using GPS, WIFI or cellular data. Practically, it would stop e-scooters from parking or operating in areas of concern.
The council said it was important that a balance was struck between promoting a sustainable transport option and community access concerns.
“Council continues to receive complaints from the community, who are increasingly frustrated at the time taken to retrieve inappropriately parked e-scooters, including footpath trading zones,” it said.
“As a result, council is having to shift limited resources to effectively monitor and resolve what Council believes to be the remit of the providers—and something that is not sustainable.”
The council will continue to talk with business leaders on the impact of e-scooter parking in Yarra activity centres.
“Noting that the current e-scooter agreement ends in April next year, council has requested that e scooter operators provide detailed data on complaints regarding inappropriate parking of e-scooters, including location and daily usage patterns in high-traffic areas, so that council can better identify where greater enforcement is required, and the cost of doing this effectively,” Yarra City Council added.
Only Greens councillors Sophie Wade and Edward Crossland voted against the motion.
Corporate Subsidy ‘Must End’: Mayor
In a post to X, Yarra Mayor Stephen Jolly said last council meeting of the year voted on “exciting reforms.”“There will be geofencing on footpaths of 2m or less wide. We also exposed how Council has been financially subsiding these multinational companies for the duration of the trial. This corporate subsidy must end.”
The cost was partly offset by scooter operators contributing $180,000 to Council for the e-scooters’ operation.
E-Scooters ‘Continue to Be a Significant Issue’
The final council motion (pdf) also noted complaints have been received about e-scooters being parked in footpath trading zones.The resolution observed that despite efforts to educate risers and regulate the use of shared e-scooters, “e-scooters being ridden on the pavement and abandoned e-scooters blocking pavements continue to be a significant issue across the municipality.”
Further, it noted that council did not have the staff or infrastructure to monitor “inappropriately parked” e-scooters or transport e-scooters from one place to another.
“Despite shared e-scooter operators being on notice that they must address this issue of inappropriate parking of e-scooters on narrow pavements, complaints have been received from the community regarding to the timeframes for retrieving inappropriately parked e-scooters,” the motion stated.
Prior to the election in 2024, Green Edward Crossland served as mayor. The council hit headlines in July 2024 over a push recommending residents “act on the climate emergency' by switching to a plant based diet.