by Trevor Bevins, Local Democracy Reporter.
Two areas in Dorset are being considered for e-scooter trials – with the experiment likely to get underway, if approved, in the summer.
The areas being looked at include Weymouth, Portland, Chickerell and Dorchester and Upton and Corfe Mullen, where an e-bike scheme failed in 2025 for lack of use.
Dorset councillors sitting on the authority’s Cabinet are expected to make a decision on the proposal at its meeting in May.
Parts of the county already has a Beryl e-bike hire scheme although that experiment was cut short last year in the east of the county after what the company said was a lack of demand, making the venture unviable.
Figures for Upton and Corfe Mulle, one of the areas being proposed for the new e-scooter scheme, showed the e-bikes were only being used every other day on average – compared to twice per day in Weymouth, Portland and Dorchester.
There was public criticism of the pull out after Dorset Council had spent hundreds of thousands pounds putting in new cycle lanes around the Wimborne area, causing considerable disruption during the construction phase.
E-scooters are currently only licensed for public rental schemes across the country, although are widely used illegally, often leading to police seizing and destroying machines belonging to offenders. Dorset Police confiscated more than 130 in the past 12 months.
There has been criticism of an e-scooter hire scheme in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area, after collisions and near misses where the machines have been used irresponsibly. One of the criticisms has been that identifying offenders has been difficult because of a lack of highly visible ‘number plates’.
In Weymouth the Dorset Echo ‘letters to the editor’ column has seen criticism in recent weeks about electric bikes in use on the seafront being ‘an accident waiting to happen’ with readers saying their walks have been ruined by having to dodge the ebikes. The council has been criticised for allowing Beryl Bike to have a hire area on the seafront, where cycling is banned in the summer.
Beryl say their ebike scheme in Weymouth, Portland and Dorchester has been popular with 50,000 journeys made, totalling almost 120,000 miles, since August 2024 when the scheme started.
Around 120 bikes are currently available, costing £1 to unlock using an app’ and then 17p per minute.
Dorset Council has yet to decide if it wants the e-scooter scheme to go ahead. If it does it is likely to invite tenders for the contract.
