The prospect of a trial of shared e-scooters in the local government area hasn't sent everyone at Georges River Council into transports of delight.
Minister for Infrastructure, Cities and Active Transport, Rob Stokes has outlined fast-tracking the e-scooter trial for three months commencing in July 2022.
But this will only be with selected councils.
At its meeting this week, Georges River Council decided to express an interest in participating in the trial, but only after a bit of soul searching.
Cr Nick Smerdely submitted the Notice of Motion asking for the council to express its interest in participating in the e-scooter trial, saying he believed it was in the best interests of the council.
Cr Smerdely was in Adelaide recently to check out the city's e-scooter system.
"Speed is regulated, it's restricted where you can park and if you enter a no-go zone the machine automatically turns off," he said.
"It is vital for Georges River to participate in this trial in July to work out where the e-scooter is most appropriate and to work out the best network for these e-scooters which will inevitably be regulated in NSW.
"It will allow us to look at the capacity of locations and it will also reduce parking issues that we have near railway stations and around our town centres."
But Cr Natalie Mort had concerns about e-scooters.
"People have electric scooters that go everywhere around our LGA and cause major problems," she said.
"People don't wear helmets. There's no lights, and they weave in and out of traffic. I don't think they are very well-suited to our LGA. They are more of a city thing."
Cr Warren Tegg was in favour of the council being involved in the e-scooter trial.
"We need new ways of getting around that don't involve cars," he said.
"We need to encourage everyone in our community, not just kids, to find new ways of moving around that are based on electricity and not fossil fuels.
"We need to find out how e-scooters work in suburban areas such as ours. We need to find ways that these sorts of mobility options can be available and work here."
The e-scooters in the trail are different to those available on the open market, council staff said.
Speed is zoned by GPS at 8km/h in pedestrian areas and gradually increases when moving out of those areas.
Cr Sam Elmir was in support of the council being involved in the e-scooter trial.
"We used to ride bikes when we were kids. Now there's e-scooters, e-boards and all these different modes of transport and if we are to create a city that is interlinked we need to start preparing for the technology that is coming through," he said.
"This is where we find what works and what doesn't work. This is the way of the future."
Deputy mayor, Cr Kathryn Landsberry was concerned at the lack of information on the safety features of the trial.
"It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt," she said.
"People are going to ride them on the footpath which is hazardous to pedestrians."
But Cr Kevin Greene said that Transport for NSW would be running the trial in restricted areas of the LGA chosen by the council.
"The technology is GPS constrained and will only go at certain speeds in certain areas," he said. "If they go into restricted areas the machine will stop."
Council voted to write to Transport for NSW to express an interest in participating in the e-scooter trial with only Cr Mort voting against.
