e-scooter safety

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, 12 June 2019                                                            

Media Release

Safety first -No reason for no insurance

Personal accident insurance on Beam e-scooter rides.

Beam Mobility says that it is deeply concerned about the way the e-scooter industry is being portrayed through the lense of one provider, owing to serious safety concerns in Brisbane. Following an increased number of reports about rider safety, Beam introduced an Australian-first rider accident insurance policy in May.

In partnership with Marsh, a global insurance broker, and Allianz, one of Australia’s leading insurance providers, Beam is now offering personal accident insurance coverage for customers of its e-scooters.  The policy was developed specifically for Beam and was driven by its desire to make e-scooter use as safe as possible.

The policy will automatically cover eligible riders using Beam e-scooters in Adelaide, where Beam is one of two providers operating in Australia’s only trial selected via a competitive process. The new personal accident policy will also extend to any new Australian cities where Beam becomes available.

Chris Hilton, Beam’s Vice-President of Corporate Affairs says that Beam sees safety and the value of its relationships with cities as how it stands out amongst the growing pack of e-scooter contenders. Mr Hilton says Beam was concerned about the way the industry was being perceived because of injuries suffered by the customers of its competitors.

”We are concerned about how our industry is being framed through the lense of people’s experiences with one provider. We are promoting a race to the top when it comes to safety. We want to provide a safe and enjoyable ride and give a peace of mind to Beam riders that they are protected when they step on our e-scooters.”

“if you do have the misfortune of having an accident you know you are covered and protected with Beam.  This is the highest level of coverage in Australia. We don't see safety as meeting the minimum requirements but as a way to show our users that we are committed to their well-being”

Beam also says that industry competition and the way the new industry is regulated impacts the safety of consumers. Beam believes that competitive markets that allow a field of e-scooter providers to trial their services will create a safer and more consumer-friendly market in the long-term.

“In places where there is no competition and where trials have been established without proper transparency the results speak for themselves.” Mr Hilton Concluded.

For Beam media enquiries

Brad Kitschke

Head of Public Affairs (Australia and New Zealand)

Beam Mobility Australia Pty Ltd.

m - +61 401 809 630  w - www.ridebeam.com  e - brad@ridebeam.com

Why Beam?

A safer ride

Beam deploys a custom Segway Ninebot Sharing e-scooter that features a Dual Braking system - a front electric brake and a back foot-brake that provides increased reliability and control. This is a different scooter to that deployed by competitors in Brisbane and Adelaide.

Speed control

Some companies set the maximum speed at 25km/h and because their scooters do not have electric brakes, the scooters are able to exceed that speed limit. This can be a serious safety concern. The normal operating speed of Beam e-scooters will be 15 kmph and the electric brakes and speed limitations mean they don't exceed 15km/h even downhill.

Councils  and Government can set speed reduction zones to reduce the speed in areas where there is a view that public safety warrants it. The speed reduces with gradual deceleration, with no jerky movements. We pioneered the establishment of speed reduction zones for the Adelaide City Council process

Rider protection - accident insurance

Beam leads the market as the only e-scooter provider in Australia to offer accident insurance for e-scooter riders. Injuries, subsequent loss of income and large medical bills that riders in Brisbane have faced when riding the scooters of another industry provider do not make for a good news story about our whole industry.

The lack of rider protection or advocacy about safe use, coupled with faults from e-scooter competitors resulted in riders being injured and having to carry the costs, or the taxpayers footing the bill.   This wasn’t good enough for us. We were seriously concerned that the e-scooter industry brand was being tarnished. We worked with Marsh and Allianz to deliver a world-first and unmatched rider accident insurance policy on top of our existing third party property insurance. We believe that this should be industry standard but thus far no other provider can match us.

Helmets

Helmets will be deployed on every e-scooter. Beam also intends on having helmets available at Council offices and will partner with local business owners to make helmets available. In jurisdictions like New Zealand where the law does not require helmets we make them mandatory and provide them with every scooter.. Safety for us goes beyond the bare minimum and consistent in every market.

Preferred parking Bays & Rider incentives

Beam will introduce e-scooter parking bays and activate its preferred parking technology, a feature which was invented by the company.

Beam will work with  Council to mark out specific areas it wants designated for e-scooter pick-up and drop-off to decrease clutter and keep the streets clear.

Beam will also activate its preferred parking technology that will send reminder messages to users suggesting they use a designated parking bay if one is close to the area they wish to leave their e-scooter.

When a user ends their beam trip within a certain radius of a designated preferred parking bay they will receive an sms suggesting they move the scooter a short distance (say 20m) to the designated parking bay. Beam will further incentivize this by adding 50 cents of credit to the accounts of users who stow the scooters in the designated bays, making subsequent rides cheaper.

Contributing to the local economy

Beam “Chargers” will be engaged to assist with collection, charging and repositioning of scooters creating flexible economic opportunities for locals.

Paying our fair share

Beam Mobility Australia Pty Ltd is a locally domiciled company. All revenue will be booked against the local entity and corporate tax will be paid on all revenue collected in Australia.