Portsmouth's Voi e-scooter scheme set for 2024 extension

The e-scooters are available for hire in Portsmouth using a phone app

A city's e-scooter trial that has enabled about 400,000 journeys is set to be extended until 2024.

The Voi scheme was introduced in Portsmouth in March 2021 and is due to expire in November after an earlier extension.

Almost 60,000 people have used the e-scooters in the city since it started.

The city council's cabinet member for transport, Lynne Stagg, is expected to extend the trial until 31 May 2024 on Thursday.

A council report said their use has increased by 65% over the past seven months.

"There are problems with e-scooters, I will be the first to admit it. But those are mainly to do with riders of the privately-owned ones.

"The sooner we have the legislation in place from the government the better. That will then allow the police to better enforce these issues," Ms Stagg told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

"E-scooters are a really useful transport option in the city, especially for those shorter journeys and Voi have been really good at addressing concerns we've raised."

Voi data up to 15 September shows there have been 252 accidents involving their e-scooters, with 24 classed as "serious".

But the authority said the true figure was likely to be lower because Voi included unverified reports.

Similar Voi trials are being run in a number of other cities, including Southampton and Birmingham, where an extension to May 2024 was approved last month.