E-scooter scheme 'in weeks' after pause in Birmingham

A new electric scooter scheme "will come back in a few weeks' time", West Midlands mayor Andy Street said.

The contract between Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) and the Swedish company Voi, which supplied the vehicles for a trial in Birmingham, ends on Tuesday.

The firm stated it was "very sad" to be discontinuing operations in the city.

Mr Street said the decision to pause was not related to a fatal crash and a boy suffering life-threatening injuries.

The contract was "always due to end" on 28 February and that was settled in June, he added.

The mayor told BBC Radio WM: "You've had a number of people speak very positively. There's other people who are worried about the safety.

"I've been clear that the safety procedures are good, but sometimes they are abused. So we need to learn all those lessons and then bring back the safest, most popular scheme as soon as we can."

A 12-year-old boy died when an e-scooter he was riding crashed with a bus in the city on 6 December.

On 20 February, a rider, 16, was left with life-threatening injuries after his e-scooter collided with a car.

Voi states that only those aged 18 or over, with a full or provisional UK driving licence can use the scooters, the Local Democracy Reporting Service has said.

Mr Street stated a new scheme "possibly with the same operator, possibly with a new one, will come back in a few weeks' time".

A Voi spokesperson said over the coming weeks it would remove its scooters and parking racks from the city and it hoped to be back to serve riders soon.

They said each week it had "10,000 regular riders making 30,000 journeys - 40% of which are commuting to work or higher education".

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