Australia's E-Mobility Shift: E-Bikes Soar as E-Scooters Decline Amidst Safety Concerns

Australia's e-mobility sector is experiencing a significant transformation, marked by a surge in rental e-bike popularity and a concurrent decline in e-scooter hire operations. This shift is unfolding amidst persistent safety concerns, ongoing regulatory adjustments by local and state governments, and the recent release of detailed injury data from e-scooter trials. Both modes of transport continue to face intense scrutiny regarding public safety, infrastructure impact, and user compliance.

The Australian e-mobility landscape is pivoting, with a notable rise in rental e-bikes contrasting with a downturn in e-scooter operations, driven by safety concerns and evolving regulations.

Melbourne E-Scooter Trial Concludes with Injury Reports and Council Actions

Melbourne's two-and-a-half-year trial of hired e-scooters, operated by Lime and Neuron, concluded in August 2024. Data obtained via a freedom-of-information request revealed 558 reports of injuries made to the companies across three local council areas between February 2022 and August 2024.

Key injury statistics from the trial:

180 individuals required medical treatment.
16 individuals were hospitalized for over 24 hours.
One scooter rider sustained life-threatening injuries.
No fatal crashes were reported by the companies.
Pedestrians and other third parties accounted for 37 injuries, with 15 requiring medical treatment and 4 necessitating hospitalization for over 24 hours.

In August 2024, the City of Melbourne terminated its contract with Lime and Neuron. Lord Mayor Nick Reece cited that scooters were "creating havoc" on footpaths and prioritized public safety as the reason for the decision. Prior to this, in March 2024, Lime and Neuron had ceased operations in the City of Yarra after the council increased its daily fee per scooter.

Despite these local council actions, the Victorian state government declared the hire-scooter trial a success in July 2024, subsequently legalizing both hire schemes and privately owned e-scooters. At that time, specific information regarding recorded crashes and injuries was not publicly released.

Beyond injuries, the companies also received 4837 complaints concerning improperly parked scooters and recorded 407 instances of scooters being dumped in water bodies. Operators Lime and Neuron stated that their scooters are a relatively safe mode of transport, reporting 9.4 million trips during the trial with 99.994% concluding safely, and 0.073 serious injuries per 100,000 kilometers traveled.

Hire e-scooter operations continue in the City of Port Phillip. Mayor Alex Makin noted 31,000 hire scooter trips and five minor incidents in December, stating that safety and amenity concerns have been addressed by Lime and Neuron through technological solutions such as footpath-riding detection, slow-riding, no-go zones, and no-parking zones.

National E-Scooter Trends and Regulatory Responses

The developments in Melbourne reflect a broader decline in e-scooter hire operations nationwide. Most capital cities, with the exception of Sydney, had permitted e-scooters by early 2025. However, operations faced freezes later that year due to safety concerns, leading to reduced public access and decreased favor.

Major operators Neuron and Beam collectively reduced their fleets by approximately 10% in 2025, bringing the total to about 12,500 e-scooters across 24 locations.
In Perth, approximately 1,000 rental e-scooters were removed following a fatal crash. A subsequent inquiry in Western Australia has suggested that e-mobility could be reintroduced under stringent regulations.
Bendigo saw Beam's 250 scooters withdrawn due to lower-than-expected ridership.
Adelaide's 2,000-strong fleet experienced a decline in trips from 543,000 to 514,000 between 2024 and 2025.
Neuron and Lime also ceased scooter operations in Melbourne's Yarra area due to increased council fees, following an earlier forced exit from the city's CBD in 2024.

Industry consultant Stephen Coulter attributed the e-scooter slowdown to concerns over safety and injuries. He suggested that state governments could facilitate the return of e-scooters in 2026, noting that the Victorian and New South Wales governments have approved share scheme operators, with Western Australia and Queensland awaiting responses to state inquiries.

Rise in Rental E-Bike Popularity Across Australia

Coinciding with the decline in e-scooter operations, rental e-bikes have experienced increasing popularity across Australia. This growth has been particularly significant in Sydney, where shared e-scooters remain illegal.

Lime, a major US operator, more than doubled its Sydney e-bike fleet to at least 7,000 units in 2025, with some industry sources suggesting numbers could exceed 10,000. Lime aims to further increase ridership and expand westward to Parramatta.
The City of Sydney reported that shared e-bike trips in the CBD nearly doubled in 2025, reaching 3.7 million.
Across NSW, 600,000 residents are reported to use shared e-bikes monthly, an increase of 100,000 since October.
Competition in Sydney's e-bike market has increased, with HelloRide operating 3,000 e-bikes and Ario entering the market with a fleet of 2,700 since late 2024.
Cities that previously adopted only e-scooters are now incorporating e-bikes. Hobart adopted Beam bikes in May, and Canberra and Adelaide are planning to invite applications for e-bike operations. In Melbourne, residents have reportedly shifted to Lime's e-bikes, with 1,200 units in inner Melbourne and plans for expansion to other municipalities.

Will Peters, Lime's Asia Pacific head, expressed disappointment regarding Melbourne's e-scooter withdrawal but maintained optimism about expanding e-bike services.

E-Bike Safety and Maintenance Concerns

The growing popularity of e-bikes has also brought safety and maintenance into focus. A Guardian Australia inspection of 72 Lime e-bikes in Sydney in January, involving a mechanic, identified several issues:

Missing Helmets: 25 older model bikes and 12 of the newer model bikes were missing helmets, despite a redesigned helmet lock. Riding without a helmet is a violation of Australian law.
Physical Damage and Parking: Many bikes were found on the ground or damaged, observed with cracked baskets, broken spokes, and dangling lights. Carelessly parked bikes were noted as potential navigation challenges for individuals using wheelchairs, mobility scooters, or prams.
Mechanical Issues: Nine bikes had loose wheel guards, and ten had smooth back tyres with deteriorated treads, which could reduce grip. One bike had six snapped spokes. Users have also reported issues such as flat tyres, broken brakes, snapped chains, and missing seats or pedals, though these were not observed during this specific inspection.

Lime states that over 99% of its e-bike trips are incident-free. The company reports that street crews inspect bikes for damage during routine checks, battery changes, and when bikes are flagged by users, with faulty bikes removed from the hiring pool. However, bikes with issues like missing helmets, worn tyres, or damaged spokes were observed being re-racked by Lime crews after inspection.

Lime acknowledged that crews sometimes run out of replacement helmets due to demand and plans to increase fines for riders who do not return helmets. The company also aims to ban users proven to misuse bikes and enforce parking in designated spots for suburban riders.

Accident data provided by Lime to local governments for e-bikes includes:

City of Melbourne, Port Philip, and Yarra (2025): 2 accidents resulting in hospitalization and 21 minor incidents from 900,000 rides.
City of Brisbane (2024-25 financial year): 33 hospital admissions and 134 minor incidents from 3 million trips.
The City of Sydney did not provide specific accident data.

Regulatory Landscape and Comparative Accident Statistics

Shared e-bikes are legal for road use in Australia, restricted to speeds of 25km/h and a power output of 250 watts. In NSW, the government introduced a clutter levy to address public safety issues related to e-bike parking and reduced the power limit from 500W to 250W. Authorities have also initiated crackdowns on illegal and modified e-bikes due to a nationwide surge in injuries.

Preliminary police data from Queensland in 2025 indicated:

E-scooters and other personal mobility devices were involved in 10 deaths and 440 crashes.
Legal e-bikes (both private and rental) were involved in 4 deaths and 235 crashes.
NSW reported that e-bikes were involved in 5 deaths and 250 injuries in the first eight months of 2025. Queensland also recorded 4 deaths on legal e-bikes in the previous year.

The perceived relative safety of shared e-bikes compared to e-scooters is encouraging users to switch, according to industry leaders.

Adam Rossetto, general manager of Ario, noted that the perceived relative safety of shared e-bikes compared to e-scooters has encouraged users to switch. Nick Mann, a principal at Polaris Lawyers, reported numerous inquiries from individuals seriously injured by e-scooters, highlighting "critical gaps" in insurance coverage. He recommended that rental companies be required to register e-scooters with the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) scheme for better protection. Victoria Walks chief executive Sarah Pilgrim stated that any expansion of e-mobility schemes should only occur with effective measures to keep devices off footpaths, enforceable parking rules, improved on-road riding infrastructure, national safety standards, and no-fault insurance for injured third parties.

Data Collection Context

The injury data for Melbourne's e-scooter trial, based on reports to Lime and Neuron, was obtained via a freedom-of-information request by The Age in July 2024. Its release was agreed upon during mediation at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). Separately, TAC data for the same February 2022 to August 2024 period recorded 13 road deaths in the Melbourne, Yarra, and Port Phillip council areas, all involving pedestrians hit by vehicles. Adelaide resident Julia Miller reported suffering a broken shoulder and elbow in April 2022 after being struck by a Lime scooter rider and is seeking compensation from Lime.

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