Ms June Tinsley:

From an NCBI point of view, similar to others, we have been approached by multiple providers in the last 18 months, all seeking to learn more about the issues and concerns that will affect people who are blind or vision impaired. Some of them have been more proactive in trying to resolve some of these concerns and showcasing what they can do as providers. Some of them have asked us to sit on safety boards, as mentioned by other speakers, but, all in all, we have been very explicit in the concerns we have with e-scooter provision. As I said, some of them have been quite proactive and one of them was keen to show us the work it is doing on the installation of an audio signal on the e-scooter it is designing. While we were happy to give some initial feedback, as I said my presentation, it is very important that those sounds that could be attributed to an e-scooter are robustly and scientifically examined so it is not a rush job just to meet a commercial need, but rather it is fully scientifically underpinned with evidence that this is the best sound to include on an e-scooter. That is a bit of a work in progress.

My understanding is that geofencing is a digital tool which can be inserted in an e-scooter that will enable the shared scheme providers to map where each of their suite of e-scooters is when in operation. It can be used as a tool to prohibit their usage on pedestrianised zones or that kind of thing. It is not a silver bullet because there are a number of flaws with it. If it is a GPS-based system, it can often be the case that where the e-scooter says it is and where it actually is are slightly different. As a result, it might not be in its designated parking bay where it should be and may be a couple of metres away, which could mean it is not parked properly and could cause an obstruction. Likewise, if they were introduced on e-scooter shared schemes, there is no guarantee it would be operational on private e-scooters, which is a concern for us.