If you’ve seen bright lime green scooters zipping around Mooloolaba and the broader Sunshine coast region – your first thought was probably, “what the hell does ‘Oggy’ mean”? quickly followed by, “well, that looks fun! Where can I hop on?”.
Rest assured, the name ‘Oggy’ does not require much brainpower to solve some niche acronym you were previously unaware of… Simply, ‘Oggy’ comes ‘Ogg’, the family name behind Mooloolaba’s pioneering e-mobility business. And you can jump on right here, at The Wharf Mooloolaba.
Oggy E-Scooters was founded by Kate and David Ogg, a local Sunny Coast couple who were inspired to make a positive impact by providing accessible and sustainable transport on the Sunshine Coast. Kate and David spent two years planning the Oggy E-Scooters business venture and have since been operating for another two, clocking up well over 27,000 rides (to date!).
When asked what their motivations were for endeavouring into the e-mobility/tourism industry, the couple gives a large credit to The Wharf Mooloolaba for igniting the initial idea behind the business. Despite their personal affinity for the precinct – exploring the fabulous range of businesses across food, drink and retail, they recall being put off at times by the inability to find a park, with the family ultimately leaving in frustration. On the hunt for a solution, the pair examined cities around the world to see alternatives to how they moved their population around, and at the time, e-scooters were just starting to become popular.
“We thought that introducing well maintained, speed and zone restricted scooters with a decent minimum age to ride would help to move more people around the Coast in a safe and, more importantly, sustainable way”.
Whilst feeling as though they were on to something, the team knew that what they did not want was to introduce yet another form of e-mobility and ride shares that would create further disruption and traffic, and could diminish the attractiveness of the region as a result of potential pollution cases.
Across cities, metro regions and global tourist hot spots, this new wave of e-mobility firms has spurred debates, drawing fierce divisions among public sentiment as to whether or not they actually are the ‘more sustainable’, long-term solution to public mobility. Whilst their environmental benefits – mainly reduced emissions – are irrefutable, increased cases of dumping and pollution, severe misuse and concerns about public safety have reared their head.
“When we studied the massive foreign companies who currently run micro-mobility operations… we were also concerned (about pollution). To address this, we have been committed to building a robust end-of-life policy for our scooters and associated parts. Surprisingly though, we have now been running for over two years, and our fleet of 150 scooters is still running as smoothly as the day of launch.”
The team found that a system that included regular upkeep of the machines, ID checking riders, refraining from operating at night time and forcing rides to end only at parking hubs (rather than being abandoned in public spaces) resulted in a total lack of vandalism, cases of dumping and major misuse.
“We operate ethically, with strict controls, because we live here too and gladly choose safety over profit. Oggy’s motto is “to do well while doing good”.
Whilst the business is booming, with Oggy’s being lapped up by tourists and locals alike – the future has some potential hurdles for our local e-mobility favourites. Two multi-billion dollar international e-mobility companies will be hitting the streets of Mooloolaba, securing licenses through the local Council.
How can you help? We strongly encourage locals and local businesses to subscribe to Oggy’s service to get around, or get to work and back on their privately hired Oggy (yes, this is now an option!) If you are interested in hiring for yourself or are a business looking for cool fringe benefits for your staff to ensure they can get to work on time – contact the team at hey@oggyscooters.com.au.
