Blog

Jun 02, 2023

Voi e

E-scooters are now available again for use in Impington, Histon, Girton and

E-scooters are now available again for use in Impington, Histon, Girton and Milton.

They were previously available in the villages, but the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority halted the service outside the city in November 2022 after admitting it had been expanded "by mistake".

It then awaited approval from the Department of Transport to reinstate the e-scooter trial in these areas.

The reinstatement came as the operator, Voi, confirmed that Cambridge has recorded a milestone of two million trips in three years.

Since the trial was launched in October 2020, more than 135,000 people in Cambridge have signed up to Voi using e-scooters and e-bikes to commute to work and college.

Voi said their introduction in Cambridge had replaced more than 668,000 car journeys, clocking up over 2.9 million miles and reducing CO2 emissions in the city by an estimated 318 tonnes.

It has developed parrtnerships with Cambridge United Football Club, Cambridge Science Park and the University of Cambridge to install e-scooter parking racks helping to encourage tidy parking and said that in the coming months, there are plans to install more parking infrastructure across the city.

A newer version of e-scooter, the V4, which has indicators, was introduced to the city in July 2022.

Dr Nik Johnson, mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said: "In the past three years, electric scooters have transformed the way people travel across Cambridge, allowing commuters and visitors to enjoy quicker, healthier journeys.

"It's great that the benefits of e-scooters will now stretch beyond the city, enabling people who live outside of the centre to travel in for work, education and to see friends and family.

"Active transport solutions like this offering a cleaner and more efficient way to get around will become a vital part of our future public transport network."

A survey by Voi among riders in Cambridge found almost a quarter of respondents use e-scooters and e-bikes to travel to and from work and 28 per cent for social events.

Those on low incomes can take advantage of Voi for All discounts for discounted travel. These discounts are also available to refugees and asylum seekers, disabled people and people over 65.

Jack Samler, regional general manager for Voi UK, Ireland and France, said: "Our Cambridge trial has grown in popularity, with more and more people choosing to use scooters and e-bikes for short trips to work, for socialising, to go to the shops or appointments and to get to university.

"Since the scheme was launched in partnership with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, we’ve increased the number of scooters and expanded the scheme so more people can benefit from using e-scooters across a wider area 24 hours a day, providing a new, easy-to-use and affordable means of transport."