E-scooter operator Beam says 2000 strikes handed out, 160 people permanently banned in Geraldton

An e-scooter hire service has revealed it has banned an average of one person and issued formal warnings — known as “strikes” — to about 14 others every week since it began operating in Geraldton.

As the debate around the future of e-rideables swirls in the wake of a Perth pedestrian’s death and some metropolitan councils suspending rental services, figures from Beam show the rate of wrongdoing in Geraldton in almost three years.

“We have a three-strikes policy in place where riders risk permanent bans for violation of the riding rules and bad parking and riding offences, and in Geraldton 160 riders total have been banned permanently as a result of this policy with almost 2000 strikes issued,” a Beam spokesperson said.

“The main reasons for these strikes and bans are riding without a helmet, bad parking, riding dangerously, tandem riding and tyre ‘peel-out’ (burn-out).”

The Beam spokesperson said safety for riders and pedestrian was its “top priority”. The company started operating in Geraldton in September 2022.

“The vast majority of riders are doing the right thing — we see almost 2500 trips across Geraldton every week on average ... since Beam commenced operations in Geraldton, there have been 346,697 trips taken across 838,776km,” the spokesperson said.

“We are always adding new safety and technology features to improve the micromobility experience for both riders and the community.

“We have a comprehensive rider education and safety program geared towards educating riders on riding and parking rules, and relevant legislation. This includes in-person training, in-app education, and a pre-trip safety briefing for riders.”

The spokesperson said Beam had recently implemented AI parking technology to “guide proper parking in real time”.

“Since launching this program, we’ve achieved around 80 per cent good parking rate across Geraldton, with prompts leading to many riders correcting their parking on the spot. Our team on the ground has already begun to notice a change in parking behaviour,” the spokesperson said.

More than 1000 parking penalties have been issued.

The City of Perth and City of Vincent have both suspended e-scooter hires in the wake of 51-year-old Thanh Phan’s death. He was hit at the intersection of Murray Street and King Street in the Perth CBD.

Riders are meant to be at least 16 and are required to wear helmets and use lights or reflectors at night, but concern is growing that the rules are easily avoided when hiring scooters under local government schemes.

The Beam e-scooters include a cognitive test at certain times to discourage users from riding while impaired.

City of Greater Geraldton mayor Jerry Clune said last week that the council had no plans to target the local Beam hire service. He believed private e-scooters posed a bigger problem than rental ones, which can be controlled more with GPS and speed restrictions.

But he conceded more stringent enforcement and better education might be needed and that in the wrong hands e-scooters could be a “lethal weapon”.

Beam’s contract for operating in Geraldton expires in January 2026.