Europe's first electric scooter taxi service launched in Amsterdam

Date: 2/10/2012

The first electric scooter taxi service to be launched in Europe has been set up in Amsterdam to help improve the transport infrastructure of the city.

Bicycles have traditionally been favoured as the cobbled streets and canals of the city centre make it hard to drive around.

Despite a system of efficient trams, trains and buses spanning out from the main train station, they do not extend as far as the older parts of town.

This is the niche which the new service, known as Hopper, is intending to fill in order to help bridge gaps in the system.

Ruben Beugels had the idea for Hopper six years ago when he was on a tram which broke down, leaving him stranded and late for an appointment.

He said: "I was very frustrated at being late, and it was then that I thought, hey a scooter would be able to get me to my meeting on time."

The high tech scooters are fitted with TomTom satnav technology and a Samsung smartphone tablet at the rear of the vehicle will display advertising.

If the lime green scooters take off in Amsterdam, Mr Beugels hopes that they will then be rolled out to three other Dutch cities.

They are Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague and may even have the electric scooters by the end of 2013.

A maximum speed of 25 kilometres per hour can be reached on the scooters, making them perfect for city centre travel.

The charge of a single battery will allow the rider to go for up to 130 kilometres without having to stop and recharge.

Mr Beugels has set up a garage of 100 scooters located between the main train station and TomTom's headquarters.

Peter-Paul Blommers, a marketing expert who advised on the Hopper project, said: "Amsterdam will become a bit more Italian with all those hip scooters in town.

"But the nicest thing is that the Amsterdam Hoppers are noiseless and non-polluting."

Posted by Nick Anderson

International Transport News and Sustainable Transport News