While the Ballarat e-scooter trial has just two months left to run, there are hopes the lessons learned will make this new form of transport viable in the city.
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However, some changes will be needed, according to one key city leader.
Committee for Ballarat chief executive Michael Poulton said based on the trial so far, he is hopeful for the future of alternative transportation, and potential a move away from relying on cars in the inner-city.
"It's important now to demonstrate that this is an initiative that can really help the city longer term," he said.
Mr Poulton said once regulations are formalised across the state, residents will get used to the normal practices that come with e-transport, adding education will be an important factor for this.
"People understand you don't park your car on the footpath," he said.
"We've come to learn how to park cars respectfully, we need to do the same thing in relation to e-scooters."
Mr Poulton acknowledged that some residents find it frustrating to see the e-scooters "littered" around the streets - "we might say the same thing about car parking, but we just got used to car parking," he said.
E-scooters can only be used in Ballarat and Melbourne as part of a state government trial in partnership with the City of Ballarat, set to end on March 31.
In Ballarat, e-scooters are all owned by Singapore-based company Neuron, which also introduced a small number of e-bikes to the city recently.
The e-scooters cannot be ridden on footpaths or by people under the age of 18, and use the same rules for drink-driving as other vehicles - in short, don't do it
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Once the trial is complete, an independent panel will make recommendations to the government about the regulations and laws.
Different Australian states have different rules when it comes to e-scooters.
Privately-owned scooters are currently illegal in Victoria, NSW, South Australia and the Northern Territory, despite how many are being used on the streets.
Mr Poulton said a change to privately owned scooters would make a difference to how readily they are adopted.
"The more uptake we see of this type of mobility, the more part of normal behaviour it will become, and the better we'll get used to it," he said.
"Then, the less anti-social behaviour we'll see because of it."
Mr Poulton thinks there are three things that need to happen for e-transportation to become an easy option to choose.
Firstly, regulation that allows for the use of privately-owned vehicles must be designed.
Secondly, the infrastructure, like bike paths, need to improve to increase the safety of e-transport users.
"I think about the bike path down the middle of Sturt Street, it still has a couple of intersections blocked off, it's still not quite seamless" Mr Poulton said.
"The ability for us to use our bike paths and our bike path infrastructure to allow the safe use of e-scooters is really important."
The third thing, Mr Poulton said, is education, so residents know how to act around e-transport and where the best places to park them are.
READ MORE: New initiative to reduce cars in the city
"We'll do that when they become more and more mainstream," he said.
Mr Poulton is passionate about the look of our CBD streets once transport like e-scooters become widely adopted.
"Our streets will be better when they don't have cars parked outside every shop," he said.
"If we reduce the amount of car parking, we can increase the amount of active mobility space for things like e-scooters."
It is not just transport that could benefit - Mr Poulton said that as residents look to different transport modes for smaller trips, our streetscapes can soften.
There could be spaces for more plants, outdoor dining areas, or even streetside table tennis.
Other forms of infrastructure will also need to catch up to support the uptake of e-transport.
Ballarat energy provider Powercor is about to start work upgrading electrical capacity in Ballarat Central, with the main focus to complement the expansion of the Ballarat Base Hospital as funded by the state government.
But an additional effect of the increased capacity will mean more opportunity for solar energies, battery storage, and e-transport chargers for all sorts of vehicles.
Mr Poulton said this will be a vital step to tackle fast-paced growth, particularly for regional cities like Ballarat that could become overly reliant on cars.
"Our cities simply have to go that way as our cities get bigger and bigger," he said.
"We can't just keep putting more and more conventional combustion engine vehicles into those cities, we need to have more electric vehicles, zero emission vehicles around our cities doing the short trip stuff we need to do everyday."
Mr Poulton highlighted that e-transport has applications beyond personal transportation.
"One of the things in Europe is this notion of an e-cargo bike used for last mile delivery," he said.
"They don't have emissions, they don't need the same car parking space and they're not noisy."
With two months left of the trial, Mr Poulton encouraged everyone to give them a go at least once.
"They're great fun and they are a terrific way of getting around the city, particularly for short trips," he said.
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