Newcastle's e-scooter trial is set to finish at the end of November - but it could be extended to 2024.
The Neuron electrical scooters have been available to hire in Newcastle since February 2021 under a Government trial. Initialy, the scooters were set to remain until February 2022, but the trial was then extended to November 30, 2022 after the vehicles were used for 500,000 miles of journeys in the first year.
But with the trial due to end on Wednesday November 30, Newcastle City Council has yet to announce if the scooters will stay.
Read more: Sunderland to swap orange e-scooters for blue ones as council extends trial
The Department for Transport has offered councils across England the chance to extend e-scooter trials until May 2024.
A Department for Transport spokesperson told ChronicleLive: “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 City Council has chosen to keep e-scooters until May 2024, although the orange Neuron vehicles will disappear at the end of November to be replaced by blue Zwings scooters from early December.
A Newcastle City Council spokesperson told ChronicleLive that an update on what will happen to e-scooters - and whether or not they will stay beyond November 2022 - will be issued as soon as possible.
E-scooter operator Neuron says it will issue an update soon on whether its scooters will stay in Newcastle following Sunderland's decision to switch to a different company.
Currently, the only way to legally ride an e-scooter in the UK is to hire one through Government trials ran in conjunction with 31 councils across England. Privately owned e-scooters can not be used legally on public roads. Earlier this year, the Government indicated it could change that law, based on the results of the hire trials across the country.
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