UK reconsidering ban on billion-dollar scooter firms

Bloomberg

The banning of e-scooters on British roads is being reconsidered after the UK government said it was opening “the biggest regulatory review in a generation” of current mobility laws, some of which date back to 1835.
The government said that it wanted to start the process of modernising existing legislation, which was proving to be a barrier to innovation, and will offer 90 million pounds ($119 million) of funding for mobility trials.
“We are at a potentially pivotal moment for the future of transport, with revolutionary technologies creating huge opportunities,” British transport minister Jesse Norman said in a statement. “Through this strategy the government aims to take advantage of these innovations.”
The European scooter industry has attracted more than $150 million of investment from venture capital firms over the past year according to data compiled by Bloomberg. US rivals such as Lime and Bird Rides Inc. have also raised hundreds of millions of dollars and aggressively expanded across the continent.
But in the UK e-scooters are classed as motor vehicles, or “powered transporters” — subject to tax, driver licenses and insurance — and the U.K’s Highways Act of 1835 stipulates that footpaths must be for the sole use of pedestrians.