Organisations launch a joint campaign to highlight parking etiquette

TIER, the world’s largest provider of shared micro-mobility, and Sight Loss Councils (SLC) have launched a joint campaign to highlight proper parking etiquette.

Sight Loss Councils, funded by Thomas Pocklington Trust, are led by blind and partially sighted volunteers. Together, they tackle local issues and work with businesses and service providers to improve the accessibility of their services.

Together we are collaborating on a video and social media campaign to encourage shared e-scooter and e-bike users to park safely and correctly.

The videos show the impact that poor parking has on visually impaired people’s lives. They also demonstrate how difficult it is for blind and partially sighted (BPS) to identify, and navigate, around a poorly parked e-scooter or e-bike. Throughout the campaign, we are emphasising the importance of keeping pavements clear when parking a vehicle at the end of a ride.

The campaign is part of TIER’s broader range of activities dedicated to improving the accessibility of its service. It also forms part of our priority project to ensure streets are accessible so BPS people can navigate them independently and safely. 

Sight Loss Council member, Haren Thillainathan, said:

“We believe everyone should be able to navigate our streets independently and safely, enabling them to live the lives they want to lead.

“We are proud of our joint work with TIER to help ensure everyone understands parking etiquette and the hazard abandoned e-scooters and e-bikes can pose. We will also continue our joint work to develop and test a universal acoustic e-scooter alert.

“Our ultimate goal, using our lived experience of sight loss, is to work with businesses and services to ensure our streets are accessible to all.”

Benjamin Bell, Senior Director at TIER, added:

“This is all part of our goal to safely blend shared micro-mobility into the urban landscape. Proper parking etiquette ensures people with sight loss don’t have to navigate around e-bikes or e-scooters blocking their path. Our long-standing partnership with Sight Loss Councils is built on the shared aim of boosting sustainable travel in a way that doesn’t harm the independence and safety of blind and partially sighted people.

“In parallel, with input from Sight Loss Councils, we are developing an acoustic vehicle alert for all shared e-scooters, so people can hear oncoming vehicles, and our Safety Board of independent experts meets quarterly to scrutinise our approach to safe and responsible operations.”

If you come across a poorly parked e-scooter or e-bike you can report it to TIER’s operations team in multiple ways. TIER bikes feature a QR code in the front basket which takes you to a chat window with their customer care team. Alternatively, you can tweet Tier at @TIERUK_StPatrol or you can message their customer care team in the Help and Safety Section of the app or website.