E-scooter company Beam dished out 360 infringement notices across the city alone in November, but they're about to mobilise an army of purple enforcers to ‘patrol’ the streets for riders “breaking the law”.

Singapore-owned micro-mobility company Beam announced yesterday it would launch a “rider education campaign” in Adelaide over summer to ensure its users know their safety responsibilities when riding and parking and the “penalties for non compliance” (sic).

The distinctive purple e-scooter company spruiked it would also double its Adelaide “rules enforcement team” and employ 25 new Beam Safety Ambassadors – a group of riders CityMag is referring to as Beamfluencers – who will ‘patrol’ and ‘enforce’ guidelines on the streets, as well as impose the company’s three-strike policy.

Under the three-strikes policy, those found doing the wrong thing or “caught breaking the law” could be issued a warning, suspension or permanent ban.

“This summer, we’re keeping a particular eye out on offences like dangerous riding around pedestrians, tandem riding and riding without a helmet,” Beam’s Adelaide operations lead Sura Kumar says in the press release.

“[We] encourage community members to ensure they’re doing the right thing and reporting those who aren’t.”

Two e-scooter companies currently operate in the City of Adelaide – Beam and Neuron. Both companies pay $1530 per week in permit fees to participate in the e-scooter trial, which commenced in February 2019.

The State Government’s road rules governing the use of e-scooters includes that they only be driven by people 18 and older, riders must not go faster than 15 kilometres per hour, must wear a helmet and cannot be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

A Beam spokesperson tells CityMag the Beamfluencer push is seperate to policing by South Australian Police.

Despite calls for the allowance of privately owned e-scooters on South Australian roads, only permitted e-scooters are allowed on public roads and footpaths.

In the announcement, Beam said they doled out 360 infringement warnings in the City of Adelaide for dangerous riders, those riding without a helmet, tandem riding and bad parking. Of that number, 260 people received permanent Beam bans.

CityMag asked South Australia Police whether they recognised the infringement notices distributed by Beam, but they referred our questions onto the Adelaide City Council and Department for Transport and Infrastructure.

The City of Adelaide’s associate director of regulatory services Steve Zaluski says Beam is well within its rights to ensure users are meeting their terms and conditions of use, and any campaign to increase safety is welcomed by the City of Adelaide.

“Safety is paramount for Council and that is why we have worked with operators to improve riders’ behaviour and used designated parking bays to prevent people tripping over inactive scooters,” he says.

“We proactively work with operators to improve community safety – for both riders and pedestrians – implementing several safety measures including geo-fencing and designated parking bays to assist with responsible parking of e-scooters.”

A Beamfluencer

The media team for the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport referred our questions onto the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Joe Szakacs, who previously answered our e-scooter-related inquiries.

We did not get a response from Minister Szakacs before deadline.

Meanwhile, the city’s long-running e-scooter trial will now go until 31 December 2022, with Infrastructure and Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis Gazetting another extension on 31 October.

The notice included trial extensions for other council areas where e-scooters are active. This includes Unley, until 14 February 2023; and Norwood, Payneham and Saint Peters, until 30 June 2023.

A government spokesperson says administration of the trials is a matter for the relevant councils.

Adelaide city councillors voted in September to have former Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor write to the State Government to ask that the city’s e-scooter trial only be allowed until the end of the year and not the recommended 12 months.

The new Adelaide City Council will consider an extension of the trial at its December meeting. 

The City of Adelaide previously foreshadowed it wanted to develop a policy position on micro-mobility, which would “enhance our advocacy on emerging modes of transport”, in its 2022-23 Business Plan and Budget.

A South Australian Parliamentary Select Committee has been partly tasked with investigating the need to potentially rev up e-scooter regulation.