About 400 e-scooters will be removed from Queensland's Sunshine Coast after the council scrapped a trial share scheme. 

The decision comes amid a growing backlash against the devices after the City of Melbourne tore up contracts for its e-scooter hire agreement.

The Sunshine Coast begun an 18-month trial with share scheme operator Neuron last year. 

The trial had strict conditions, including curfews and parking restrictions, and only covered a small central area of the Sunshine Coast. 

Melbourne CBD to ban e-scooters

 

Photo shows Orange scooters parked on a footpath in front of a bayside view.

The City of Melbourne has voted to cut ties with share hire e-scooter companies, citing concerns from CBD residents over safety.

The council voted on Thursday to end its contract with Neuron after a report recommended scrapping the scheme, with Mayor Rosanna Natoli and all 10 councillors voting unanimously.

The council review found no critical issues during the trial, but said it was "not appropriate" to continue it.

Almost 1,300 residents were surveyed about the trial, with 60 per cent of people wanting it to end, citing safety and amenity.

However, less than a quarter of respondents had used the scooters and most people conflated the Neuron scooters with private ones. 

"Community sentiment does not appear to differentiate between personally owned and hired e-scooters," the report said.

The scooters were only available to hire until 9pm, with users complaining this made it hard to get home from dinner or other evening outings.  

'Limited uptake' compared to other cities

Councillor Joe Natoli said he was "reluctant" to support the scheme originally. 

"I was almost brought in kicking and screaming because of what it would mean," he said.

Mum's plea to raise e-scooters age restrictions

 

Photo shows A young girl with dark hair in plaits lies in a hospital bed surrounded by greeting cards and soft toys

Cr Natoli said the trial only attracted "modest usage". 

There were about 40,000 unique users who took 131,000 trips in the first year of the trial, with an average journey of about two kilometres. 

Deputy Mayor Maria Suarez said if the purpose of the trial was to encourage residents to change their habits and leave their cars at home, a shared e-scooter scheme wasn't competitive.

"Someone who is using it as a mode shift to travel to work and using it every morning and every afternoon is not going to want to pay [per trip]," she said.

"It's more cost-effective for [people] to own their own private scooter." 

The report stated there had been "limited uptake" of the e-scooters compared to other regions.

Restrictions 'need to be relaxed'

It's another blow for Neuron after Melbourne's decision to cancel its contract and remove shared scooters from the city. 

A Neuron spokesman criticised the council's "very restrictive" conditions on the trial.

"We had high hopes for the e-scooter program in the Sunshine Coast and given the right regulations, it could still be a great city for rental e-scooters," the spokesman said.

"However, in order to truly maximise the service for riders and make the program sustainable, many of the initial restrictions need to be relaxed by the city. 

"This includes allocating more parking stations and removing the very restrictive curfew to allow riders to fully utilise the service as they do elsewhere in Queensland."

Neuron said there had been "very few reported issues" and 99.99 per cent of all trips ended safely.

"Neuron's e-scooters are … equipped with the latest safety technology, much of which is not seen on private e-scooters, including geofencing technology that controls where e-scooters can be ridden and parked and how fast they can travel in different areas," the spokesman said. 

The council review left the door open for another commercial e-transport operator to run scooters on council-controlled land in 2026.