Personal mobility device plans

Personal mobility devices include things like e-scooters, e-skateboards and self-balancing 1 or 2-wheelers.

The recent boom in the use of personal mobility devices has created some safety issues as riders share a range of infrastructure with other road and path users.

Shared e-scooter and e-bike hire schemes have also become commonplace across Queensland. While these schemes are a great mobility option, they have created some problems with parking on footpaths.

To address safety and parking concerns we are delivering:

Video transcript

The Department of Transport and Main Roads e-mobility parking plan.

Plain English version, February 2023.

Overview

E-mobility devices are machines like electric bikes and electric scooters.

They are ridden in places in QLD.

We use the words e-mobility device in this document when we mean electric bikes and electric scooters.

Some e-mobility devices can be hired.

They are often parked safely in neat rows out of the way of people using footpaths.

But sometimes they are left in a way that can block the path of other people using the footpaths.

E-mobility parking can be a problem where there is not a lot of space and there are a lot of people using the same path.

People riding e-mobility devices may not be able to find parking for their device or understand where they can park.

They may also not understand how to park the device safely and out of the way of others.

We are worried that Queenslanders, including people with disability. May have an accident because of the way e-mobility devices are parked.

Context

This plan sets out a way to improve e-mobility parking in Queensland. The solutions are meant to be simple to put in place and simple to follow.

There are a number of groups that can help improve immobility parking.

They include:

Queensland Government
local councils
E-mobility hire companies
E-mobility riders

And people who own the land were e-mobility devices are parked.

TMR formed the e-mobility Parking working group, known as PWG, in 2022.

It includes people from the above groups that have an interest in e-mobility parking.

The PWG worked together to create this plan of actions. The actions in this plan will be implemented over a trial and discovery phase. Also referred to as the learning phase, which will last about 1 year. Longer term actions will follow and are referred to as the standardisation phase.

Solutions

There are 4 types of solutions to improve e-mobility parking.

E-mobility parking areas
Reporting poor parking
Information and education
Rules and laws.

E-mobility, parking areas

E-mobility parking areas or sometimes called parking hubs are the best way to improve e-mobility parking in QLD.

Parking hubs mean a safe space for riders to park in e-mobility devices out of the way of other path users. More parking hubs will make everyone safer.

Parking hubs should be safe and easy to use for everyone. Because of this, we will make sure parking hubs are designed with input from different people.

In the learning phase E-mobility hire companies and local councils will research good examples of e-mobility parking in other parts of Australia and overseas.

TMR will develop a simple set of instructions to help choose where parking hubs should be and what they should look like. TMR will work with local councils to start trials of parking hubs at busway stations.

E-mobility hire companies will share information about trips with local councils and planning agencies.

To support them to choose where parking hubs should be. Local councils and e-mobility hire companies will trial parking hubs in different locations.

TMR will share information on our website about where parking hub trials are.

E-mobility hire companies will make more areas where parking is not allowed because it is not safe.

E-mobility hire companies will trial different technology that can help us find devices in parking hubs.

TMR and local councils will research to understand how parking hubs affect the whole transport system in the long term.

E-mobility hire companies will put in place the good things from the trials. This makes more e-mobility device riders use parking hubs.

TMR will make the signs and markings clear to show parking hubs.

TMR will update our documents to show the best way to create parking hubs.

TMR will also work with local councils to make more parking hubs.

Local councils will have more parking hubs built, like the documents say they should be.

Reporting poor parking

It can be hard to know how to report unsafe e-mobility parking, for example, when an e-mobility device is blocking a path. Most e-mobility hire companies have a system to make a report through their app or website.

But the system is not the same for all companies. It would be good to have the same way of reporting bad or unsafe e-mobility parking so everyone knows what to do.

In the learning phase, e-mobility hire companies will make information about how to report bad parking easy to find, for example, on their devices or website or app.

Local councils will also have information on their websites about how to report bad parking.

E-mobility hire companies will show riders who park badly how they can park better. This could happen when the photo is taken at the end of the trip to show the device has been parked.

In the longer term, TMR and local councils will look for ways to have the same reporting process for all e-mobility hire companies.

Information and education

It is important to have good information about e-mobility parking in QLD.

This will help riders know how to park properly and safely.

We will look at ways to get more information out to people.

The information will explain how bad or unsafe e-mobility parking can cause a problem for everyone, especially people with disability.

It can be a big problem for people who are blind or who have low vision, or people who use a wheelchair.

In the learning phase, the PWG will write clear and simple information for writers about how to park safely. The PWG will also make sure current information explains safe parking correctly.

Local councils, e-mobility hire companies and TMR will use platforms like Facebook to send messages about safe parking. Members of the PWG will tell others about safe parking. In the long term, TMR will look at other ways to send messages about safe parking to reach more people.

Rules and laws

Rules and penalties for bad e-mobility parking might not work very well.

It is hard to know who left an e-mobility device in the wrong place, so it is difficult to issue a penalty to the right person.

We will first look at other ways of making people park their e-mobility devices safely.

In the learning phase, local councils and e-mobility hire companies will look at operating agreements to make sure they include information about parking rules.

In the long term, TMR will research if stronger laws are needed. This might include how penalties could be given to riders who park e-mobility devices badly.

TMR will look at how laws may need to change to allow immobility parking at public transport infrastructure.

For example, rail stations and busway stations and interchanges.

Last updated: 20 December 2023