City of Busselton votes to extend Neuron e-scooter trial to November despite community concerns

An e-scooter company has been given the green light to continue its trial in Busselton despite a community survey showing most residents do not want it. The City of Busselton voted at its meeting on Wednesday night to extend Neuron’s 12-month trial of the transport option until November, rejecting a staff recommendation to scrap the agreement entirely. But the council did put a condition on the extension, requiring the company to address community concerns about the service. A community survey conducted in December and January, which received more than 1200 responses, found 62.4 per cent of residents did not want the trial to continue. Some of the issues raised included parking, helmet litter, abandoned e-scooters and rider behaviour concerns. Mayor Phill Cronin said the 12-month period was a really good opportunity to see how hireable e-scooters can work in the city, but the survey results made it clear there were “significant issues” with how it was being operated. “The supplier, Neuron, offered to make some improvements to mitigate community concerns reported through the survey and this information assisted council to decide to extend the trial until November, subject to improvements,” he said. Mr Cronin said the city would be closely monitoring Neuron’s changes over the coming months. “Council acknowledges the benefits that hireable e-scooters can bring to the community, but this will require better management to prevent the issues that the community has experienced during the original 12-month trial,” he said. Changes included designated parking areas and slower speed restrictions in some areas. More than 133,000 trips have been taken on Neuron’s e-scooters since the trial began in December 2022.