When 42-year-old Michael* hopped off his electric scooter to talk, he was, he said, “embarrassed that at my age I’m even on one”. He was riding home through a south-London park from his work as a boxing instructor. The vehicle, he said, didn’t belong to him – it was his 12-year-old niece’s, who had lent it to him because of an injury that had prevented him from running or cycling to work. A journey that would have taken him 30 minutes to run took 15 by e-scooter, and when he was on the road – he never rode it on the pavement, he said – the scooter could go up to 20mph. “I first used it a week ago and I was amazed at how much fun it is. I wouldn’t buy one for myself. I’m more of a bike person. But they’re easy to use – and they’re fast.”
Michael is just one of many in the UK to adopt, however reluctantly, this new and controversial form of transport. If you live in a major city, you will likely have noticed a huge increase in the number of people zipping around on electric scooters over the last year, particularly as the Covid-19 pandemic put many people off using public transport. Less than a year ago, it was illegal to ride any kind of e-scooter on public land. The use of privately owned e-scooters remains prohibited across the country – though they are widely available to buy – but as of today (Monday 7 June), London becomes one of several dozen English cities offering legal e-scooters to rent for the first time.
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