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Have you spotted bright yellow golf cart-looking things whizzing around Fulham? No, you’re not going mad, and they could soon become Londoner’s latest form of transport. Step aside, Lime bikes.
Yellow buggies – officially called Neighbourhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) – have launched in Hammersmith and Fulham as part of a trial scheme by transport company Yo-Go. The funny-looking vehicles can go up to 20 miles per hour, cost 20p per minute to hire, and must be hired by over 25s. And you won’t have to worry about parking, because Hammersmith and Fulham council said they can be parked anywhere, for free.
The vehicles are road legal (although they should avoid motorways and dual carriageways) and have number plates. They operate in a similar way to Lime bikes, with users booking them via an app.
There are currently 10 buggies up for hire in the west London borough, soon to expand to 50, and Yo-Go hopes to roll them out across London soon. But it’s not confirmed how long the Fulham trial will last, or when they could arrive in new areas.
‘What we are trying to do is create a different mode of transport, that is more affordable for people to drive a low-emission vehicle. And a vehicle that makes the streets more pleasant and safer for other road users so for cyclists and pedestrians,’ said Sam Bailey, Yo-Go’s chief executive.
‘We want a vehicle that they feel safe interacting with. And what we also trying to do is reduce congestion. So by making the vehicles smaller, the traffic flows better, there's less constraints on parking, and that benefits everyone in the city.’
Bailey added that this trial was a ‘world-first’. Do you think electric buggies should be rolled out across London?
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