Mr. Matthew Pencharz:

Most of the accidents the Senator mentioned were on private e-scooters. The shared schemes are quite safe. Mr. Padden stated, and it is our experience as well as an operator, that e-scooter safety on the shared schemes is broadly the same as cycling. It is a pretty safe form of transport. In fact, we have a serious accident approximately every 28,000 rides. It is essentially a safe form of transport.

Bristol is a great example of where micromobility in England and the UK has delivered a transformational experience. There was a question about where it has gone wrong for micromobility. We had the example of too many operators, too many scooters, too much clutter, too much chaos and it was not regulated enough. We could also point to examples in the UK where it is the exact opposite: where the schemes are not big enough, so we do not get the modal shift or there is not enough density of vehicles, because it needs to be convenient to get people out of their cars. People need to get their phone out and know they can get a scooter within a two-minute walk. Once it gets to four, five or six minutes, it becomes inconvenient, and people are going to get back in their car. That is another example of finding the sweet spot of not going to chaos, which has been seen in some markets, for example we heard about Paris earlier, and perhaps in some of the Nordic countries recently. If there is an overly onerous regulatory environment, you do not get the convenience for the users, which means you do not get the benefits for the service.