Electric bike and scooter scheme ends

Tier has operated the rental scheme in York since 2020

A pilot scheme to trial the use of e-scooters and bikes in York has ended.

The e-scooters were launched in the city in 2020 as part of the Department for Transport's micro-mobility pilot, which was later extended to include electric bikes.

Operator Tier said in March it would not be extending the trial when its contract ended on Friday.

City of York Council said it had held informal discussions with potential partners for a new scheme, but said it would first review the impact of the trial.

James Gilchrist from the council said any future scheme would need to meet "the needs of residents, businesses and visitors".

The trial in York monitored and collected information about the use of hired e-scooters and e-bikes to inform the creation of national guidelines.

Since it began, almost 60,000 users in York have clocked up over 820,000 miles (1.3m km) over more than 500,000 journeys.

The BBC asked people in York for their views on the ending of the scheme in the city.

Richard McDougall said work colleagues used the scooters to zip around town for business meetings

Richard McDougall thought the e-scooter trial had been a "great idea".

“I have a number of colleagues that use them to get from Clifton Moor into town pretty quickly when they had business meetings," he said, adding he hoped the scheme would "come back".

Simon Nutsey, who works in IT, said he thought the trial had been good for the city.

"I don’t like cars in general so the more people that use public transport the better.

"I go on about this at work all the time.”

His colleague Matthew Baxster said he did not think the scooters had been "harming anyone".

Barry Barker does not think the e-scooters are safe

But Barry Barker from Acomb was not convinced the scheme had been a good idea.

He said: "They’re a flipping nuisance. If they came back I wouldn’t feel safe.”

Janette Pascal said she had been concerned about the safety of pedestrians during the trial and the impact on car drivers.

"There’s not a happy medium really between the speed that the scooters go, the pace of pedestrians and also the observation when you’re in a car, they’re really difficult to see and they come up on you.

"York’s such a small, compact city - I think pedestrians have the right to be safe.”

Her son Jack said he did not want to see e-scooters return to the city's streets.

"I think bikes are much better," he said.

Jeanette Pascal and her son Jack have concerns about bringing e-scooters back

E-scooters can only be used as part of a trial scheme and riders must hold a provisional driving licence and be insured.

The use of privately owned e-scooters on roads remains illegal.

Anyone over the age of 14 can use an electric bike as long as it meets certain requirements.

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