Medical drone deliveries and e-scooter legalisation on the cards
Government plans hope to lessen traffic
Government plans include reviewing transport laws to make journeys greener, easier and smarter
Medical drone deliveries and legalising e-scooters are just two proposals the Government has announced as part of a consultation to make journeys easier, smarter and greener, it said.
Alongside the review, funding of £90 million will lead to trials in three “future transport zones”: Portsmouth and Southampton, the West of England and Derby and Nottingham.
The Government said the zones will provide real-word testing, which will include working with local bodies such as hospitals and airports to test innovative ways to transport people and goods.
For example, one of the projects will see drones carry medical supplies from clinics on the Isle of Wight to mainland hospitals, a move intended to help speed up diagnoses by cutting time spent travelling on ferries and roads. Portsmouth and Southampton will also test last-mile deliveries for freights.
West of England Combined Authority will test booking platforms which allow people to book one journey across multiple modes of transport. It will also trial self-driving cars to transport people between Bristol airport and central Bath.
Derby and Nottingham have been granted more than £15 million to invest in new mobility hubs that encourage more widespread uptake of public transport, bike hire, car clubs and electric vehicles.
The Government is also considering how to ensure safe use of e-scooters is safe on roads. This includes a minimum age, vehicle standards and insurance requirements. E-scooters are currently illegal, but have been an increasingly common sight over the past few years.
It will also consider whether people could book buses on their phone, operating in a similar way to on-demand private hire vehicles, while also making payment simpler.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “We are on the cusp of a transport revolution. Emerging technologies are ripping up the rulebook and changing the way people and goods move forever.
“This review will ensure we understand the potential impacts of a wide range of new transport modes such as e-scooters, helping to properly inform any decisions on legalisation. Funding these new zones across the country will also help us safely test innovative ways to get around, creating a greener future transport system for us all.”
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