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05 Sept 2025
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05 Sept 2025
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Cllrs Tracey O'Dwyer and Evie Sammon try out scooters in Naas
Electric scooters can make 30% of short car journeys unnecessary.
E-scooter company Superpedestrian brought some of its scooters to Aras Chill Dara on Friday to allow local councillors to use the machines and to present the case for greater use.
The company operates in 60 cities across 10 countries. Users in the UK city of Nottingham travelled 150,000km on its shared e-scooters, replacing 45,000km of short car journeys last January in what is a city which has a population equivalent to Cork, Limerick and Waterford combined.
According to company customer surveys, at least 30% of all rides replace short car journeys thus providing a massive boost for cutting emissions and traffic congestion.
Jean Andrews, policy director for Ireland and UK said that, when given the choice, many people choose to replace short car trips with e-scooter journeys - even in winter.
Forthcoming legislation will mean that people will soon be able to choose to travel by electric scooter rather than by car.
“This will help to reduce congestion and improve air quality in our towns and cities, which benefits everyone; not just those who use e-scooters. We also commend the approach of introducing a proposed maximum speed of 25 km/h, which aligns with the maximum speed permitted for e-scooters in most EU states. Electric scooters travel on the road, alongside motor vehicles. If the speed difference between these different vehicles is not minimised, riders would be placed at serious risk."
Ms Andrews commented that Ireland is one of the last countries in Europe to legislate for e-scooters.
“Ireland can benefit from recent advancements in e-scooter design and technology and require the highest standards - setting a global benchmark for safety.”
She said Superpedestrian has developed a new technology that can detect and correct pavement riding and other dangerous behaviours (such as wrong way riding and intoxicated riding), in real time by automatically bringng the vehicle to a safe stop
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