E-Bike Boom Continues as E-Scooter Popularity Declines Across Australia
Rental e-bikes are experiencing a surge in popularity across Australian cities, while the use of rental e-scooters is waning, a trend some are attributing to a “moral panic” surrounding safety concerns.
The e-bike boom is being led by Sydney, where the number of available vehicles nearly doubled in 2025 following a significant deployment by US operator Lime. The company now operates at least 7,000 ebikes in the city, though industry sources suggest the actual number could exceed 10,000. Lime declined to confirm the exact fleet size.
E-scooter adoption initially outpaced e-bikes in Australia, with all capital cities except Sydney permitting their use in early 2025. However, operations have been curtailed throughout the year due to safety concerns, leading to reduced access and overall unpopularity. Neuron and its subsidiary Beam collectively reduced their fleets by nearly 10%, bringing the total to approximately 12,500 e-scooters across 24 locations.
The shift comes after several incidents raised safety concerns. In Perth, approximately 1,000 rental e-scooters were removed from streets following a fatal crash. A subsequent Western Australian inquiry concluded that e-mobility could be reintroduced with stricter regulations.
Other cities have also faced challenges. In Bendigo, Beam’s 250 scooters were withdrawn after users completed fewer than 55,000 trips, falling short of expectations. Adelaide also saw a decline in ridership, with trips decreasing from 543,000 in 2024 to 514,000 in 2025.
Melbourne experienced a particularly dramatic shift, with Neuron and Lime pulling scooters from the Yarra area after the city council increased fees, and previously being forced out of the central business district in 2024. Lime, however, remains optimistic about its e-bike offering in Melbourne, currently capped at 1,200 vehicles, and is exploring expansion opportunities in Darebin and Merri-bek municipalities.
Industry consultant Stephen Coulter attributes the e-scooter slowdown to a “moral panic” regarding safety and injuries. “You’ve had moral panic, which has caused some [local governments] to overreact, like the City of Melbourne, who just withdrew them overnight back in September 2024,” he said.
Coulter believes that state government action could facilitate the return of e-scooters in 2026, with New South Wales and Victoria already approving share scheme operators, while Western Australia and Queensland are expected to respond to state inquiries.
In the meantime, residents in Melbourne are increasingly turning to Lime’s ebikes. “Bikes are picking up in the absence of scooters and the operators are becoming better at aligning them with customer need,” Coulter explained.
Cities previously focused solely on e-scooters are now embracing bikes. Hobart adopted Beam bikes in May, Canberra is soliciting applications for both e-bike and e-scooter operations, and Adelaide plans to issue a similar invitation this year.
Lime’s Asia-Pacific head, Will Peters, expressed disappointment with Melbourne’s decision to remove its e-scooters but remains hopeful about growing its e-bike presence. “How do we make Sydney the best market?” Peters asked. “I think we can be bigger than London, we can be bigger than Paris.”
The success in Sydney is notable, as e-scooters remain illegal in the city, even for shared schemes. Government data suggests that approximately 600,000 NSW residents now use a shared e-bike monthly, an increase of 100,000 since October.
The City of Sydney reported that shared e-bike trips in the central business district nearly doubled in 2025, reaching 3.7 million. This demand has attracted competition, with HelloRide operating 3,000 ebikes and Ario introducing a fleet of 2,700 bikes in late 2024.
While shared bikes are subject to regulations – limited to speeds of 25km/h and a power output of 250 watts – illegal and modified ebikes have drawn government scrutiny amid a nationwide surge in injuries. Preliminary police data from Queensland shows that e-scooters and other personal mobility devices were involved in 10 deaths and 440 crashes in 2025, while legal ebikes were involved in four deaths and 235 crashes.
Adam Rossetto, general manager of Ario, which also operates scooters in far north Queensland, suggests that ebikes benefit from building on existing cycling culture, unlike e-scooters which brought “novelty-driven behaviour” and unexpected challenges. “Shared ebikes are coming back into the fore,” Rossetto said. “They provide a more traditional approach to mobility … that delivers less stupidity, I think, from a section of users.”
