- Seven years since it first became legal in parts of Australia, New South Wales is finally legalising electric scooters or e-scooters.
- Under the Minns government’s latest proposal, you’ll need to be 16 and over, and adhere to specific speed limits depending on where you ride.
- Until now, it has been perfectly legal to buy an e-scooter and ride it in private spaces (just not on NSW streets).
After years of dithering, U-turns, and bureaucratic navel-gazing, New South Wales has finally decided to legalise e-scooters. Sort of.
As per the state government’s current proposal, anyone over the age of 16 will be allowed to ride their electric steeds on shared paths (10-20 km/h speed limit) and bike lanes (20 km/h speed limit where roads are signposted 50 km/h or below; prohibited on roads 50+ km/h). Approved helmets are mandatory, of course.
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Privately owned e-scooters cannot exceed 25 km/h and must meet the “safety requirements.” In other words, they need to be about as threatening as a hairdryer on wheels. No turbo-charged imports, no off-roaders, and absolutely no unregulated fun.
Queensland has had legal e-scooters zipping through its streets since 2018. As for Victoria, in the same time that it’s taken NSW to catch up, the government has legalised e-scooters only to effectively ban them again by outlawing rental services once the two-year trial ended.
NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen called the decision “an important first step.” It’s the sort of phrase that’s designed to sound forward-thinking but actually implies several more years of glacial policy movement. At least they’re being honest.
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Riding an e-scooter in Sydney can cost you upwards of $600 in fines, with rental trials only permitted in a handful of local government areas. Meanwhile, Lime and Neuron scooters became an everyday sight in Brisbane and Adelaide, where a little freedom apparently isn’t treated like contraband.
At the time of this writing, the proposed legislation to allow the riding of electric scooters has only been tabled in Parliament; meaning it’s still not quite there yet (with no rollout date, either). But what’s another few months to the seven-year delay?
Keep an eye out here for when it officially becomes legal to ride an e-scooter in NSW.
