Scooters And One Wheels

Slough e-scooter firm defends GPS know-how to detect foul play

The company behind the operation of e-scooters in Slough has insisted that they take action to tackle bad user behavior.

The heads of Slough Borough Council and Neuron Mobility, the company that sells the scooters, have defended the technology they use to detect riders who have ventured into no-go zones.

But an angry neighbor of Slough has accused the council and e-scooter company of “lying” about technology to deal with selfish users.

The local council and Neuron Mobility, which are delivering the orange e-scooters in the area, have come under fire again, security concerns of the rental program.

The e-scooters were made available in certain parts of Slough last October as part of a government-approved testing program to encourage greener travel.

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To be able to use an e-scooter, you must be at least 18 years old, have a provisional or full driver’s license and may only be driven on the roads within the test area.

From the start, their use raised safety concerns as people reported seeing “dangerous” rides by users, using them on the sidewalk or damaging motorists’ vehicles.

Jaspal Dhariwal told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he raised his safety concerns about the plan after seeing e-scooters “clutter” the sidewalks of several Slough streets, including his own on College Avenue.

He said, “On my street, the sidewalk is not wide and there are other obstacles like trees and lampposts, signs, etc. and my father is a wheelchair user and if I had taken him out I would have been forced out onto the street. ”

He also said he had complained to the council and Neuron, but was told that “geofencing” technology is being used to make Neuron stop and pick up the scooter when it is in a restricted area or on the sidewalk.

However, Mr Dhariwal said that this technology did not exist after “investigating” the functionality of the scooters and accused them of being fraudulent.

Parking bays for the scooters are placed on the sidewalks – but Mr Dhariwal said the scooters are classified as vehicles and should be parked in parking bays to prevent the sidewalk from clogging.

He said: “The problem with sidewalk parking is that it already restricts pedestrian space, compromises social distancing, encourages users not to get out on the street, and the council encourages parking the e-scooters on the sidewalk resulting in further closures of sidewalks. “

In a joint statement, a spokesman for Neuron and the Slough Borough Council said the “vast majority” of their users have been driving responsibly and safely since the beginning of the process – with a few exceptions.

They say that the e-scooters have geofencing because they use it to implement no-go and no-parking zones, as well as dedicated parking stations.

The joint statement also states that they cannot completely eliminate poor parking and driving, but have taken and will continue to take measures to reduce them as much as possible.

One of these are GPS-connected registration agencies that log every trip to help identify “irresponsible behavior” and to reposition e-scooters where they are most needed.

They said, “All e-scooters have a dump detection feature that uses GPS to warn emergency teams if they have been left on their side. We prioritize reports about poor parking and fix the problems as soon as possible. The emergency teams work around the clock to safely reposition e-scooters and bring them to the areas where they are most urgently needed.

“The public can report problems with driving and parking by contacting Neuron Customer Service, through the Neuron app, or by phone and email – details can be found on Neuron’s website and on the e-scooters. ”

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