Free Now Welcomes E- Scooter Legislation
Free Now, Ireland’s leading ride hailing app, welcomes today’s announcement by Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan TD and Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton TD, that a new class of powered personal transporters, including e-scooters, will be legalised for use in public places under existing regulatory powers as part of the newly published Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021.
Niall Carson, General Manager for Free Now Ireland commented:
“Free Now has advocated for the legalisation of e-scooters in Ireland for some time and we are delighted to welcome the newly published Road Traffic & Roads Bill 2021 which will allow for their use in public places.
We commend this announcement by Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan TD and consider this to be a significant step in developing a more sustainable, inter-connected and multi-modal transport network across Ireland.
Demand for micro-mobility options like e-scooters among our passengers is already strong – with research showing that 40% intend to use e-scooters for everyday transport once legislation passes.
We are excited to facilitate this demand by launching a new e-scooter booking option via our Free Now app in the coming months.
This marks a key development in our ambition to provide a wider range of sustainable, low-emission and efficient transport options to passengers across Ireland.
We have seen from various European markets in which Free Now already offers e-scooters, such as France, Poland, Italy, UK and Germany, the success rate of micro-mobility options like e-scooters and the role they play in supporting a more multi-modal national approach to transport i.e. one which is less reliant on private car ownership and more reliant on flexible, blended transport choices to meet transport needs; including a combination of public transport, taxis, car sharing, e-scooters, e-mopeds and e-bikes etc.
We are currently progressing discussions with a range of e-scooter providers to facilitate e-scooter integration on the Free Now app in Ireland over the coming months.
We are committed to partnering with reputable, high quality operators who prioritise passenger experience and place utmost importance on safety standards.”
