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Milton Keynes officer appears before Transport Committee

Recently the Transport Committee met to discuss lessons learnt from the e-scooter trials.

Brian Matthews, Head of Transport Innovation at Milton Keynes Council gave the committee his authority’s view on the trials in Milton Keynes.

He told the committee usage ‘is similar numbers to Liverpool, approaching 2 million trips and 30,000 users in the city’.

“We have estimated a saving of 128 tonnes of carbon by the switch from public transport.

He said there had been ‘teething troubles’ experienced elsewhere in the country.

As a result, speeds were reduced across the network. For example, Willen Lake has speed limits of 5 mph.

“City centre speeds are down to 10 mph. We did not think that 15 mph an hour was appropriate, so the rest of Milton Keynes is 12 mph. We also looked at that as an impact on the users. As highlighted, the users pay per minute and clearly a lower speed increases the cost of usage. We are evaluating that against the other impacts from the type of interventions we have put in.”

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e-scooter transport committee Brian Matthews

Micro-mobility: E-scooter trials findings

DfT has recently published the findings from the national e-scooter trials.

Across the country there were 32 trials, including 10 within the EEH region. They took place in Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Aylesbury, High Wycombe, Princes Risborough, Oxford, Northampton, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Rushden and Higham Ferrers. North Northamptonshire was the largest trial in the region and second largest nationally.

Within the trials 14.5 million trips were taken with 23,000 e-scooters deployed. The average length of journey was 2.2km (1.3 miles) and took 14 minutes. The findings suggest that e-scooters acted as a mode of transport in-between walking and cycling in terms of distance travelled.

Users were predominantly male (71%) and under the age of 35 (74%). Motivation for using the scooters was reported as time and cost savings, convenience and enjoyment. A recurring motivation from female users was that using an e-scooter was viewed as safer method of transport than walking home at night in the dark.

Challenges arose in the trials from characteristics of local areas (such as road design), public perceptions of the e-scooters, resource constraints, the legal status of private e-scooters and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Transport Committee launches 'future of transport' call for evidence

The Transport Committee is asking for 500 word written proposals on what the future of transport will look like. The submissions will inform the committee's next indepth inquiry.

The Committee, chaired by Milton Keynes MP Iain Stewart, is keen for proposals from a wide range of experts, researchers, thinkers and stakeholders.

Mr Stewart said: “My cross-party colleagues and I want to hear from you on what you think the Transport Committee should examine next. We are keen to pick ideas that will help us scan the horizon for what might be coming down the tracks.

"If you know of an issue that would benefit from Parliamentary scrutiny – perhaps something we've never looked at before – then we would warmly welcome your short proposal for an inquiry. We look forward to hearing your ideas.”

The deadline for submission is 6 February.

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