Micromobility operator Voi is today announcing the launch of its redesigned parking racks created in collaboration with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) to help reduce street clutter and improve e-scooter parking habits.
The new parking racks have extended and raised side panels to enclose the whole length of the e-scooter. Voi has also increased the colour contrast on all sides. This makes the scooter rack more visually distinctive and helps cane users to locate and avoid the scooter rack more easily. Each rack can hold up to 10 e-scooters and the first RNIB redesigned racks will be installed in Birmingham and then rolled out in areas where Voi is trailing its e-scooters.
This project is part of Voi’s wider working collaboration with RNIB to understand the needs of blind and partially sighted pedestrians. The micro-mobility operator has already taken the first steps in implementing the organisation’s recommendations looking at key elements, such as rider education, training, e-scooter sound alerts and now the redesign of its parking racks.
Voi is the UK’s biggest operator of shared e-scooters, with trials running in 18 towns and cities, including Cambridge, Birmingham and Liverpool. Voi riders have now taken over 2 million rides to date in the UK. However, the main challenges to greater micromobility adoption are infrastructure and parking, as improperly parked e-scooters can be hazardous to pedestrians and other road users.
Voi is committed to investing in parking infrastructure to simplify parking, as well as increase safety and limit street clutter. According to a study from the Norwegian Institute for Transport Economics, dedicated parking spots for shared e-scooters can help solve pavement clutter. When testing Voi parking racks in Oslo, as well as unbranded parking spaces painted on the pavements, Voi has found that more than half of e-scooter riders ended their trips in a designated area. Voi currently has scooter racks installed in Northampton, Portsmouth and Southampton and many more will be deployed in the next few months.
Voi has been focusing on user education and innovative features that encourage good parking behaviour. In the UK, the company recently rolled out an ‘end of ride photo’ feature in the Voi app. This requires riders to take and submit a photo of their parked scooter after each ride, which Voi’s support team will review. Riders who leave e-scooters lying down or obstructing the pavement will receive a warning for their first infraction and a fine of £25 for any further incidents. So far, Voi has seen a 70% improvement in good parking behaviour with the introduction of this feature.
John Worsfold, strategic innovation implementation manager at RNIB, says: “The Voi team has worked enthusiastically to better understand the concerns and needs of blind and partially sighted people and we look forward to testing the resulting redesign of their e-scooter racks. We also look forward to learning about the deployment and impact this redesign has for blind and partially sighted people when they are trialled in our towns and cities.
