Responding to criticism from local councillors about e-scooters being parked inconsiderately, Voi, the operator of the e-scooter trial scheme in the West of England, has begun implementing so-called ‘parking infrastructure’ in Filton, Patchway, Bradley Stoke and Stoke Gifford.
The initiative will see the introduction of 17 painted parking bays and seven e-scooter parking racks.
The parking infrastructure is being installed as a mitigation to reduce e-scooter clutter, where users may end their ride and leave the e-scooter vehicles untidily, potentially creating an obstruction for other pedestrians and cyclists or interfering with accessibility features such as dropped kerbs and tactile paving.
The painted bays are marked with a semi-permanent acrylic-based line marking spray paint which has an expected life of 3-6 months in areas of high usage. It can be removed with a pressure washer.
Painted bays have been (or are planned to be) created within Bradley Stoke at the following locations:
- Brook Way adjacent to the entrance to the Three Brooks Local Nature (Braydon Gate)
- Brook Way, junction with Hawkins Crescent (north end)
- Bradley Stoke Way, adjacent to the Willow Brook Centre
- Bradley Stoke Way, adjacent to Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre
- Bradley Stoke Way, adjacent to the Great Meadow MetroBus stops (both directions)
Parking racks are substantial metal structures that can be either single- or double-sided.
A double-sided parking rack has been installed at the junction of Brierly Furlong and Church Road in Stoke Gifford, adjacent to a pedestrian entrance into the Aviva Centre.
The purpose of the painted bays and parking racks is to clarify parking locations for both users and non-users.
The locations where infrastructure is being installed have been reviewed by South Gloucestershire Council’s Assess & Decide team, with feedback and some alterations being provided to the operator. The locations were chosen based on the top fifteen utilised parking areas along with suggestions by council officers.
The operator has had a Section 50 licence approved by South Gloucestershire Council to enable their contractors to implement the infrastructure on pavements and shared-use paths. All painted bays and e-scooter parking racks will be removed by the operator’s contractor at the end of the trial. Signage is being installed alongside the e-scooter parking infrastructure so that it is clear that the asset has been installed as part of the official Weca e-scooter trial scheme.
Weca, South Gloucestershire Council and Voi will monitor the usage of the parking locations following the installation of the parking infrastructure to understand the impact on user behaviour and e-scooter clutter. This will potentially lead to further installations of parking infrastructure within the existing e-scooter trial area within the local authority area for the remainder of the trial’s duration.
In addition to the e-scooter parking infrastructure, Voi has recently implemented a ‘mandatory parking cap’ feature, which means a maximum of ten trial e-scooters can park at locations which have experienced overcrowding. This was rolled out to over 100 locations in July and was expected to be at 200 by the end of August, although most are in the City of Bristol area.
• Report a misplaced e-scooter: www.voiscooters.com/report/uk
This article originally appeared in the September 2021 issue of the Bradley Stoke Journal magazine (on pages 6 & 7). The magazine is delivered FREE, nine times a year, to ALL 8,700 homes in Bradley Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
