e-scooter trial
We are taking part in an e-scooter hire trial with Essex County Council and e-scooter company, TIER.
This means you can now hire an e-scooter to get you around Chelmsford City Centre. Only e-scooters hired through the trial are legal.
Our aim is to provide a socially-distanced and safe way for people to travel, that reduces the number of short car journeys made.
How to hire an e-scooter
To hire an e-scooter, you will need to download the TIER app. This also shows you where the nearest e-scooter is. There are now up to 500 e-scooters available, across a number of city centre locations.
Privately owned scooters
All privately owned e-scooters (most of which are plain black) remain illegal to use on public roads and land, and are not insured.
Illegal e-scooters are a police matter, so you will need to call 101 to report an incident.
You can ride an e-scooter:
- on roads that have a 30mph speed limit (or less)
- along cycle paths, including in parks
- in most places in the city
You cannot ride an e-scooter on:
- the pavement
- pedestrianised areas, including on pedestrian-only paths in parks and open spaces
- major roads over 30 mph
No-go zones
To make sure all road users are safe, there are some other areas where you are not allowed to ride. These are no-go zones.
In the city centre, the no-go zones include:
- High Street
- Moulsham Street, from Parkway to Stone Bridge
- Cathedral grounds and Church Lane
- High Chelmer and The Meadows
- Springfield Road, from High Street to Bond Street
- Bell Meadow (pedestrian only path)
- Cannon Mews and Park Road (the pedestrian-only southern half)
- pedestrian-only paths in Central Park
Within the central zone, you must park e-scooters in a designated parking spot, as shown on the TIER app.
Outside the central zone, you can park e-scooters where it is convenient, as long as it is sensible, such as at a bus stop or neatly outside your house.
You need to make sure the e-scooter does not block the pavement or cause any other obstruction. There are penalties for bad parking.
After you record the end of your journey via the app, other riders or operations staff will collect the e-scooter and return it to a designated hire location.
All e-scooters available for hire are shown on the TIER app, wherever they are.
To hire a scooter, you need to:
- be 18 or over, and
- have a provisional or full driving licence
TIER will provide compulsory in-app training and safety advice before you can hire. This will include reading advice, completing some questions and watching a training video. You will have insurance through the trial.
You must follow the Highway Code at all times, and park safely and sensibly at the end of your ride. We want to ensure people can enjoy hiring an e-scooter, while keeping it safe for everyone.
You can recognise TIER’s e-scooters by their teal-coloured branding. They have lights and reflectors, brakes, indicators, a bell, and an integrated stand.
We will continue to review the trial to make sure everything is running correctly.
You can report a safety issue or badly parked TIER e-scooter by emailing support@tier.app or calling 0808 304 4069. It will help the support team if you can provide a date, time and location for the issue, and the e-scooter id number, if possible.
You can report an illegal e-scooter to the police on 101. If you want to give general feedback on the trial, you can contact the ECC trial team via escootertrials@essex.gov.uk or read the FAQs.