camelot-forum.co.uk

As per title, & in an email I just banged out to Cambs council (re the busway) ..they have bought e-buses with much fanfare, which the solar array at St ives busway wil presumably be drawing off via a not much mentioned in the details battery storage facility on site (so presumably noisy wireless pad charging)

..seems somewhat crass to be propelling a vehicle by battery that we sit on top of (sort of) but not acknowledging the carrying of perdonal e-transport (ie blanket banning as per the underground et al) & making accommodation for it whilst insisting "it's the future, & necessary for climate survival aims"

So do we see change here or the same previously given reasons not to?

For instance, long term hire of an "approved" licensed area escooter is in the here & now (voi) ..they are likely the same IP rating as my escooter (bought for ip protection in part) if you used it for various legs of a journey to / from work, & its "approved & tested" as part of that licensing, could you take it onto a bus & or train (if space obviously)

I consider that the answer is obvious.

EV cars and buses are built to and comply with well defined safety standards with public liability back to the manufacturer in event of deficiencies. E bikes and scooters are not all built to similar standards. An unknown number are built to a price point and may be substandard. There maybe little comeback for liability against the manufacture and/or importer. There is a chance that any certificate of conformity might be a forgery.

Personally, I do not consider that the average bus driver has either the ability or inclination to determine if an e-bike or e-scooter meets standards from a quick glance while the passenger boards. Even if the driver was able to make the determination, I doubt that they would accept the liability if they got it wrong. Driving a bus can be stressful enough without adding to it.

There will likely be "grandfathering" laws of acceptance for a tranche of properly made e-scooters that aren't the cheaper no name ali express type, if legalised I anticipate a digital id of conformity will be utilised to get over the hump here because if you expect people to take public transport & give up cars then you have to recognise the bus may merely be a portion of the journey not the journey in its entirety & that is why you (they) need to give it greater thought.

Plenty of shonky vehicles on the road, possibly less public scrutiny encountered.