E-scooters on NSW roads: the rules are written, the start date is missing

Private e-scooters on NSW roads: how far the change has come

5 of 8 steps done. The next one, changing the road rules, has no date.

1. July 2022

   Shared e-scooter trials begin

   Western Sydney Parklands, end of July 2022. Later trials ran in Lake Macquarie, Armidale, Albury, Kogarah, Wollongong and Forster-Tuncurry.

2. 28 October 2024

   Draft rules published

   Transport for NSW's draft key rules and the E-micromobility Action Plan: 16 and over, helmets, 20 km/h on roads of 50 km/h or less.

3. 13 February 2025

   Parliamentary inquiry reports

   Portfolio Committee No. 6 recommends regulating private e-scooters.

4. 13 May 2025

   Government responds

   The Government supports most recommendations and proposes shared paths at 10 to 20 km/h and roads of 50 km/h or less at 20 km/h.

5. July 2025

   Trial program report published

   Transport for NSW and the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies publish the shared trial findings (July 2025).

6. Not yet

   Road rules changed

   The road rules and device definition still have to be made. Nothing has been published yet.

7. Not yet

   Start date announced

   No commencement date has been set.

8. Not yet

   Private e-scooters legal

   Until then, riding your own e-scooter in a public place stays an offence.

What the draft rules would allow on NSW roads

The October 2024 draft is short and specific. On roads it says private e-scooters would be:

• allowed on roads with a speed limit of 50 km/h or less, including the bike lanes on those roads,
• limited to 20 km/h on those roads,
• ridden single file, with the minimum passing distance applying to drivers overtaking them,
• kept off roads signed above 50 km/h.

Off the road, they would be allowed on shared paths (giving way to pedestrians) and bike paths, and kept off footpaths except for an adult accompanying a child under 16 or a rider with a medical exemption. Riders would need to be 16, wear a helmet, keep under 0.05 blood alcohol and leave their phone alone. No licence, registration or compulsory insurance would be needed for private use.

The 50 km/h road limit is the same one the shared trials have used since 2022. Transport for NSW's draft notes it matches Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia, while Victoria allows e-scooters on roads up to 60 km/h.

How the other states put e-scooters on roads

Every one of those places has made private e-scooters legal. NSW is the only state where riding your own in public is still an offence. The full comparison, including Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory, is on e-scooter laws around Australia.

The case for setting a date

The strongest arguments come from the NSW Government's own documents.

The devices are already here. The Government counted about 1.35 million e-micromobility devices in NSW homes in May 2025, and said "it is currently illegal to ride an e-scooter on public roads and paths." Shops sell them legally. In October 2024 it called this a "regulatory blind spot that means e-scooters can be purchased in stores, but can't be ridden on NSW streets," and found only 22% of people knew riding one was illegal.

Clear rules beat no rules. Today a private rider has no lawful place to ride in public at all, so there is no speed limit to obey, no lane to keep to and no helmet rule written for them. The draft gives police a set of rules they can actually enforce: an age, a speed, where to ride, a blood alcohol limit.

They replace car trips. The Government's figures for e-bikes and e-scooters together: 47% of people use them to connect to public transport, and 34% of trips in Greater Sydney replace a car trip, 45% in regional NSW.

The rules have been tested. The shared trials have run under almost the same settings in council areas from Western Sydney to Armidale since 2022. The Government says the trial data and an independent evaluation shaped the draft, and published the trial program report in July 2025.

The concerns, taken seriously

People who worry about legal e-scooters are not wrong to worry. The common concerns, and what the draft does about each:

• Pedestrians. Footpaths stay off limits for adult riders, shared paths require giving way, and shared zones are capped at 10 km/h.
• Speed and over-powered devices. Every legal scooter would have to meet a device definition with a capped top speed, brakes and lights. A scooter that does not meet it would stay illegal.
• Young riders. The minimum age would be 16, the same as the trials and every state that allows them.
• Battery fires. NSW introduced safety standards for lithium-ion batteries before October 2024, and the Government says more product safety work is under way.
• Clutter. This is mostly a hire-scheme problem. In the trials, riders are told to park thoughtfully and use marked bays where they exist; private scooters go home with their owners.

What is holding it up

The Government has not said. Its May 2025 statement promised to "progress the proposed regulation of e-scooters" in the coming months, with road rule changes "supported by communication initiatives". Since then the e-bike problem, fast fat bikes on footpaths, has taken the attention and the new law. That work was needed. It does not explain why the e-scooter rules, which were ready first, have no date.

There is also a calendar problem. The last Legislative Assembly sitting day before the March 2027 election is 26 November 2026. Road rules do not need a vote of Parliament, so the Government could still make them at any time, but a change of this size is less likely to be announced in an election period than before it.

What would move it

A start date is a decision for the Minister for Transport. Ministers respond to what their own MPs hear from voters, and to petitions that reach Parliament. If you want private e-scooters legal on NSW roads under the drafted rules, the most useful thing you can do is say so to your local MP, in your own words, and say why it matters to you. How to have your say explains the options, including how a Parliament e-petition works.

Lanewise is not part of any political party or campaign group, and does not tell anyone how to vote.

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