Hire e-scooters are set to be banned from the CBD with the City of Melbourne likely to rip up its contract with e-scooter operators Lime and Neuron.
Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece and councillor Davydd Griffith will move a motion at Tuesday night’s council meeting to cancel the council’s contracts with the companies.
Hire e-scooters are set to be banned from the City of MelbourneCredit: The Age
Operators Lime and Neuron will be given 30 days notice to remove the e-scooters from the city in a move that might result in a legal stoush with the companies that have spent millions of dollars on their operations in Melbourne.
Around 1500 hire e-scooters operated in Melbourne as part of a two-year trial, but they have been the subject of a flood of complaints about them blocking footpaths and endangering pedestrians.
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The state government is making permanent e-scooter hire schemes legal in October, following the controversial two-year trial with Lime and Neuron in the Melbourne, Yarra and Port Phillip council areas.
City of Melbourne officers initially recommended the e-scooters should be permitted to remain operating with a range of measures to rein in bad behaviour, but The Age has been told by multiple sources, who do not want to speak on the record ahead of the council meeting, that a motion will be proposed to ban the scooters.
More to come
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