Rental e-scooters and bikes: أفكار لمقال IELTS

Electric scooters and bikes that can be rented by the minute have become a common sight in many cities. I believe that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, provided that cities regulate the schemes properly.

The benefits are clear. For users, these vehicles are cheap and convenient: a person can unlock one with a phone, ride the final kilometre from a train station to the office and leave it at the destination, with no need to own or store a vehicle. For cities, they offer a clean alternative to short car journeys, which reduces traffic, parking pressure and exhaust emissions in crowded centres. They can also complete public transport networks by serving areas with few bus or train stops, and they are popular with tourists exploring unfamiliar districts. Paris has made its shared bikes part of its strategy to cut car use, although it banned rental e-scooters in 2023 after safety complaints.

However, there are real problems. Riders are at risk of accidents, especially without helmets, and scooters ridden on pavements can endanger pedestrians, particularly elderly and disabled people. Vehicles abandoned across footpaths create clutter, and vandalism is common. Questions have also been raised about sustainability, as short-lived batteries and vehicles that are collected by diesel vans may cancel out some of the environmental benefits.

Most of these difficulties can be reduced through regulation. Councils can limit the number of operators, require parking in designated bays, enforce speed limits and set fines for dangerous riding or poor parking, while companies can design sturdier vehicles and use electric vans for collection. Dedicated lanes would protect riders and pedestrians alike.

In conclusion, shared scooters and bikes offer a flexible, low-emission form of transport, and with proper rules their advantages are greater than their drawbacks.