E-scooter and e-bike trial

We all want to be safe on local roads and footpaths. The shared e-scooters in the Darebin trial have restrictions in place to provide a safer alternative for locals looking for affordable sustainable transport options.

It is already legal to purchase private e-scooters. Council’s hire scheme provides a safer alternative because of limited speeds, helmet requirements, GPS locating, and in-app tests to ensure riders aren’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

E-scooters are subject to road rules enforced by Victoria Police. Shared e-scooters in the Darebin trial feature additional safety technology to ensure they:

• Travel no faster than 20km/h and do not travel into sensitive areas like schools and parklands.
• Have a helmet attached to be rentable 
• Start and end at a designated parking bay to keep our streets tidy and ensure everyone can get where they need to go
• Include in-app tests to ensure riders aren’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol
• Automatically slow down when footpath riding is detected in activity centres.

Safety and accessibility are at the centre of this e-scooter trial.

We’re using the latest technology to restrict where e-scooters can park, to detect and deter footpath riding, ensure helmet use when riders start their journey and to slow e-scooters to walking pace in busy areas. All shared e-scooters in the trial cannot travel faster than 20km/h and cannot travel into sensitive areas like schools and parklands.

E-scooters are legal to ride in Victoria and subject to road rules enforced by Victoria Police, just like cars and bikes. Any private e-scooter capable of travelling more than 20km/h is considered overpowered and is illegal to ride on Darebin’s streets and paths.

It is illegal to ride e-scooters on the footpath. All e-scooters operating in the trial will be fitted with advanced technology to deter footpath riding, including audible warnings for users and automatically slowing the e-scooter down when footpath riding is detected in our activity centres.

Our trial features a parking model which is unique to Darebin and requires every e-scooter trip to begin and end in a designated parking bay. Users that don’t end their ride in a designated parking location will continue to be charged until they park the vehicle in a bay. We’ve carefully chosen the locations of these bays with safety and accessibility for other footpath and road users in mind.  

Parking bays will be installed on-road wherever possible, helping to keep footpaths clear and discouraging footpath riding by allowing trips to start on the road. There will be no loss of on-street car parking.

E-bikes can be parked outside of these designated locations within the trial area, but they must not obstruct footpaths and access and must be left in an upright position. This is enforced through an end-of-trip auditing feature on the smartphone app.

Lime must resolve any improperly parked e-scooters or e-bikes within a strict timeframe, as per their agreement with Council.

If you see an e-scooter or e-bike parked where it shouldn’t be, raise it directly with Lime by scanning the QR code on the vehicle or using the contact details below.

Lime
1800 861 305
support-au@li.me 

E-scooters are legal in Victoria. You can legally ride an e-scooter in Victoria if you:

• ride on:
  • shared-use paths (not on footpaths), or
  • roads that have a speed limit up to 60km/h
• are at least 16 years old
• wear a helmet
• do not travel more than 20km/h
• do not use your mobile phone
• do not carry a passenger (dinking).

For more information, visit the Victoria Police website.

You can hire e-scooters and e-bikes through Lime's smartphone app. You’ll be able to see real-time information on where to find a ride and where to park.

Darebin's e-bike and e-scooter trial is operating in Northcote, Fairfield and Alphington.

E-Scooters are restricted to these suburbs only and cannot be used outside of these suburbs.

E-Bikes, however, can be used to travel to and from City of Yarra, City of Melbourne, City of Stonnington and City of Port Phillip, where shared e-bike trials are also taking place.

E-scooter users are charged $1 to begin their ride and 54 cents per minute thereafter, with this revenue going to the operating company Lime.

Lime offers a 50 per cent discount for health care card holders.

The Lime smartphone app shows you where to find available e-bikes and e-scooters, as well as where to park them.