Skip to main content

Birmingham embraces e-scooter 'impact'

Rides in UK city replace 680,000 'unnecessary' car journeys, micromobility company insists
By Adam Hill October 18, 2022 Read time: 2 mins
Easy rider: commutes by e-scooter have risen (image: Voi)

Voi says there were 75,000 commuter journeys on its e-scooters in Birmingham, UK - which plans to become a carbon-neutral city by the end of the decade - last month.

Nearly 17,000 rides took place in the morning between 7-9 am and around 58,000 rides between 4-7 pm.

The company says this means a third of riders in Birmingham use Voi for commuting back and forth to work, and its ridership has risen to nearly 1.8 million in the city since the scheme began in September 2020.

Residential communities across Birmingham - such as Castle Bromwich, Kings Heath, Harborne and Perry Barr - are also embracing micromobility, it says, following the city-wide expansion ahead of the recent Commonwealth Games in the city.

With four in 10 riders using a Voi e-scooter rather than a car, this means more than 680,000 'unnecessary journeys' are being replaced, the firm suggests.

“The number of people using Voi for their daily commute shows the remarkable impact e-scooters are having on Birmingham," says Sam Pooke, senior policy manager at Voi UK&I.

"The expansion in the summer ahead of the Commonwealth Games has unleashed pent-up demand for an alternative to using the car."

But Pooke says this means reliability is key: "Creating change in our town and cities means we must deliver a service that mimics the convenience of using a car - needing to be both flexible and accessible, but greener, so people from all walks of life don't give a second thought to using an e-scooter as part of their daily lives.”
 
Voi has discounts available for students, NHS staff, emergency service workers, the armed forces, veterans and also for those on a low income.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Melbourne taxi drivers go slow
    February 28, 2017
    Taxi drivers in Melbourne, Australia, have staged a ‘go slow’ during morning rush hour on one of the city’s busiest roads, Tullamarine freeway, in protest at changes to state government industry reforms that would regulate ride-sharing app Uber and scrap taxi licences.
  • Arup’s vision of urban mobility in 2050
    May 6, 2015
    Arup’s vision of the Future of Highways considers a wide range of factors that will impact on mobility towards the middle of the century. In its consideration of the Future of Highways through to 2050, international consultants Arup has taken a broad and pragmatic view of where society is heading and the effects that will have on the transport requirements. In terms of major drivers it not only cites
  • Willers brings Mobi shuttles to Singapore
    January 14, 2022
    Mobi uses Swat's AI technology, with optimal routing capability
  • Gothenburg to implement congestion charging
    February 2, 2012
    Gothenburg, which is line to become Sweden's second major city to implement congestion charging, will not enjoy the pre-deployment trials and referendum which Stockholm did. But, says the STA's Eva Söderberg, this is less of an issue than might be imagined