Newcastle's orange e-scooters could disappear from the city on Thursday.
The city's e-scooter hire trial, run in conjunction with the Department for Transport and operator Neuron, enters its final day on Wednesday November 30, having been extended in February 2022 after its first year.
The Department for Transport told ChronicleLive that councils across England have the option to further extend the legal electric scooter trial to May 2024.
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A Government spokesperson said: “The e-scooter trials are helping us to better understand the benefits of properly regulated, safety-tested e-scooters and their impact on public space.
“To ensure we get the best evidence possible and build on findings from ongoing research, we are enabling local authorities to continue running trials beyond this year.”
Sunderland is one of the cities that has chosen to do that, but it is swapping its orange Neuron scooters for blue Zwings e-scooters, which will remain until May 2024.
Newcastle City Council has yet to say whether its e-scooter trial will be extended, or if it will change operators, or if the vehicles will disappear altogether.
A council spokesperson told ChronicleLive that an update will be issued on Wednesday November 30 - the final day of the trial. If the trial is not extended, e-scooters will not be available to hire legally in Newcastle from Thursday December 1. Wednesday would be the last day they can be rented.
Neuron said last week that it will issue an update in "due course".
It is currently illegal to ride a privately owned e-scooter on roads in the UK. The only way to use one legally is to hire it through one of the Government trials in place across English cities.
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