E-scooters are a step closer to legalization in NSW, but councils are yet to decide whether e-scooter rental companies will move in.

Climbing the hill near his home past one of Sydney’s largest police stations, Karim Tawansi has historically shown himself pushing with his back leg.

This is an achievement worthy of an Academy Award, considering that his e-scooter can reach speeds of about 20 kilometers per hour on its own.

He is one of almost half a million NSW residents who legally own an e-scooter but cannot legally use it.

Gliding in suits and heels, zipping through the far corners of the city and bumping into back roads, these e-scooter riders are street-legal, low-speed mavericks – and it’s likely they’ll soon be legal.

This week the NSW government unexpectedly announced plans to legalize e-scooters as part of its new e-micromobility action plan.

“Finally,” said Mr. Tawansi, who was stopped by the Highway Patrol one day in an unfamiliar suburb.

He received two fines – one for using an unregistered vehicle and the other for wearing the wrong helmet, costing him a hefty $1,046.

NSW Police data paints a confusing picture of what is currently considered legal.

Last year, one hundred people were fined for riding an e-scooter on a footpath, while 88 people were also fined for riding an e-scooter on a road.

Mr Tawansi believes his e-scooter is no more dangerous than anything else on a cycle path where cyclists often pass by the peloton.

“It’s fun, I know exactly how long it will take, it leaves virtually no trace,” he said.

While the rule change mainly affects private e-scooter users, it also paves the way for shared e-scooter providers such as Neuron and Beam to establish a presence in Sydney.

Shared schemes, already entrenched in cities such as Canberra and Brisbane, and recently scrapped in Melbourne, have come under scrutiny, particularly regarding safety.

Will shared e-scooters work in Sydney?

While the state government provides regulation, shared e-scooter providers work directly with local councils to negotiate contracts and put their scooters on the streets.

The City of Sydney, which covers much of the CBD and inner east, has already decided not to participate, citing “road safety” and “clutter” on footpaths.

Inner West Council, which covers another large part of the city, recently rejected a State Government proposal to trial electric scooters as an alternative transport option while the Sydenham to Bankstown railway line is closed for upgrades.

Both councils will be closely monitoring the results of a joint trial of e-scooters in Kogarah, south of the CBD, following similar trials at Sydney Olympic Park, Lake Macquarie and the Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan in 2022.

A spokeswoman for NSW Transport Minister Jo Heylen said shared schemes were an “important part” for people who don’t have their own e-scooter or bike, and said the government would “encourage access to shared devices”, albeit with an eye on “a range security problems.”

It is hoped the e-scooter sharing scheme will provide a legal option for passengers trying to get to transport hubs such as train stations, while also cutting emissions and reducing traffic.

“We’ve had all these great public transport projects like the Sydney Metro, but within a couple of months of opening people start complaining about getting to the station and not being able to park,” Stephen Greaves of the University of Sydney. This was reported by the Institute of Transport and Logistics.

“It could be somewhere between walking and driving. It’s often more effective to run,” he said.

In Canberra, public acceptance of shared e-scooters has been rapid, with operators Neuron and Beam estimating they have each taken 1.9 million rides on their scooters since they were introduced four years ago.

It’s a similar story in Brisbane, the first city in Australia to allow shared e-scooter operators, where the companies previously reported 5,000 users a day in the CBD.

But shared e-scooters never had a chance in Melbourne, and the Melbourne City Council abandoned them six months before the end of the trial due to safety concerns.

Professor Greaves said it would be surprising if shared e-scooter operators did not try to capitalize on the legalization of e-scooters in NSW and set their sights on Sydney.

“This is the largest state with the largest population and potentially the largest profits,” he said.

Research shows a majority of Sydney residents support legalizing e-scooters, as long as there are some sensible rules such as mandatory helmet wearing.

Generally speaking, according to the data, attitudes towards electric scooters are worse the older you are.

As e-scooters become more widespread, so do safety concerns.

Some private e-scooter users are hesitant to support an e-scooter sharing scheme, fearing that bad behavior will further reinforce the already suspect image of e-scooters as hell on two wheels.

“If they have a negative impact on the use of private scooters, then I don’t want to see them.”

One emergency doctor in Melbourne said he saw 30 to 40 patents a month from e-scooter incidents while the city was undertaking a joint e-scooter trial.

Since 2021, seven people have died in Victoria from e-scooter incidents.

There were also thousands of violations, mostly for not wearing a helmet, riding on a pedestrian path or carrying a passenger.

In Brisbane, reports of related injuries in emergency departments have almost doubled in two years.

The Queensland Government is working to introduce random breath testing for riders, believing current methods of checking whether someone is intoxicated, including an online questionnaire, are insufficient.

It’s one of many changes councils and states will have to make as they look to make e-scooters safer.

Professor Greaves said with so many people in NSW already using them, it made sense for the State Government to ask these questions too.