Brentwood e-scooter trial extended

Brentwood’s e-scooter trial is being extended for another year. 

Spin Mobility scooters – the only ones legally permitted on Essex roads – made around £700,000 in five Essex towns and cities over the 1,520 days up to the trial’s initial end date on October 21, 2021. 

The Department for Transport (DfT) have requested the trial, which also operates in Basildon, Braintree, Chelmsford and Colchester, be extended to November 30, 2022. 

The request has been agreed by Essex County Council (ECC). 

The scheme has seen 577,735 rides made by more than 51,650 individual riders since its launch in December 2020 and the trial has so far shown that 82 per cent of users took an e-scooter instead of driving alone in a car. 

However, the scheme’s popularity varies across the participating areas. While Chelmsford and Colchester are each expected to account for more than £450,000 of Spin’s turnover for the next 390 days, Brentwood is set to account for around £1,000. 

A DfT statement to ECC cabinet noted that Covid-related delays had meant most schemes had only been run for nine months or less. 

They said they need “more robust data” in order to “make an evidence-based decision on the future of e-scooters".