First weekend of Beam’s e-scooter trial in Geraldton hailed a success, with 13,000km travelled

They could be seen everywhere at the weekend — either being ridden or strategically scattered around the city waiting to be used and reused.

The start of Beam’s purple e-scooter trial has been hailed a success, with spokesperson Stuart O’Callaghan revealing more than 13,000km was travelled on the devices around Geraldton over the launch weekend.

“We’re really pleased to see the demand for shared micromobility in Geraldton ... trips were particularly high on Saturday afternoon, and during the day on Sunday,” he said.

“The most popular hotspots were Dome Cafe, the foreshore Jaffle Shack, Bluff Point Deli and AJ’s Beach Cafe.”

Given the green light by the Geraldton council, Beam’s 15-month trial involves 300 purple e-scooters, which can be unlocked for use on the company’s app for $1 and then $0.49 for every minute after.

Beam says its scooters have a raft of safety features, including a “geofencing” GPS navigation system — which makes the scooters slow down in certain areas or not enter at all — QR codes to track riders, triple braking, a double kickstand for anti-tipping and a warning bell.

It also warns that people who repeatedly abuse the system or the e-scooters could be banned under a “three-strikes policy”.

Mayor Shane Van Styn was confident Beam would run a smooth operation and was impressed with the quality of its e-scooters.

“These are a very robust, well-built piece of equipment, that will provide a much safer, much smoother ride than mine,” he said.