Department for Transport E-Scooter trials
As part of the official Department for Transport’s (DfT) authorised e-scooter trials, South Somerset District Council in partnership with leading British micro-mobility operator Zwings, have a fleet of rental electric scooters operating in Yeovil. An earlier shorter trial was completed in Chard and Crewkerne. The scheme provides a sustainable, convenient and covid-safe-socially-distant mode of travel to the community and visitors alike. We must stress, that while the trial is underway, privately owned e-scooters are still illegal on public roads and all e-scooters are not allowed to be ridden on pavements. The DfT e-scooter trials run from October 2020 until May 2024.
We look forward to you trialling the e-scooters, and please remember to feed back to the DfT on how they are being used in communities so they can decide after the trials whether e-scooters will be made a legal form of private sustainable transport.
To use an e-scooter in Yeovil you will need to download the app, links on the Zwings website
If you have any questions about the South Somerset DfT E-Scooter Trial, check out the SSDC FAQ's on the Zwings website here.
If you have a question, feedback or want to to speak to the Zwings support team you can contact them here.
Department for Transport update:
15th December 2022: the government has published the findings report of the national evaluation of e-scooter rental trials in England. The report examines how and why rental e-scooters are used, and by whom, as well as safety, mode shift, environmental and wider social impacts. It represents one of the largest evaluations of e-scooters internationally in terms of the breadth of data collected.
The report was commissioned by the Department for Transport (DfT) and undertaken by Arup and NatCen Social Research. It includes data collected between July 2020 and the end of December 2021.
DfT welcomes the conclusion that rental e-scooters can serve as a valuable mode of transport, with 14.5 million rental e-scooter trips completed by December 2021. Safety, and the protection of riders, pedestrians and other road users is a key priority for the Government and we continue to work with local authorities and operators to ensure the trials, which have been extended until May 2026 (updated extension to trial published Nov 2023), are as safe as possible and encourage responsible use.
The government has published a full response to this evaluation report, outlining key learnings. Both can be found at the links below:
National evaluation of e-scooter trials report - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and The Government Response to this report
February 2023 presentation by WSP regarding the National Evaluation of Rental E-scooters Trails