Last Saturday I counted eleven Segways gliding past the Elizabeth Quay amphitheatre in under twenty minutes, trailed by a guide holding a little flag like he was herding geese. It's become a fixture of the foreshore scene, and honestly, it's one of the better additions to how this city shows itself off. Foreshore segway tours have gone from novelty to a genuine fixture of the Perth visitor circuit, and the e-scooter crowd isn't far behind.
I've done enough of these tours over the years to lose count, on water and on wheels, and one river cruise years back that shall remain nameless nearly ran aground near the Narrows on a falling tide. So I come to this with a bit of scepticism baked in. But the segway operators along the river have mostly figured out what works, probably because the terrain does half the job for them.
Why the foreshore suits wheels better than most cities
Perth's river flats were practically built for this. The path along Riverside Drive and around Elizabeth Quay barely rises more than a metre or two over several kilometres, it's one long flat ribbon with the city skyline on one side and the river on the other. That's rare. Most riverside cities have steps, service roads, or a busy carriageway cutting the water off from pedestrians. Here you get an uninterrupted run from the Quay almost to the Narrows Bridge without a single awkward kerb.
That flatness is exactly why the operators behind the Swan River Bridges and City Segway Tour in Perth can run a two-hour loop and still have everyone back on dry land in one piece. No steep pinch points, no gravel scrambles, just long sightlines and smooth bitumen. We've written before about how this sort of foreshore segway tours give Perth a new angle on the river, and that angle really is the point. You're higher than a cyclist, slower than a car, and moving at exactly the pace where the Bell Tower, the Spanda sculpture and the old Barrack Street jetty line all register properly instead of blurring past.
Segway or e-scooter: they're not really the same experience
People lump these together but they're different animals. A Segway tour is guided, paced, and social, you're following someone who knows the stopping points and the stories behind them. An e-scooter hire is the opposite: unguided, self-directed, go where you like and stop when you're bored. Both have their place.
If you want context, the guided option wins easily, there's no contest. A good guide will point out which bridge pylon is original and which was replaced after flood damage, or why the Causeway alignment sits where it does. Hire an e-scooter solo and you'll cruise past all of that without knowing it's there.
But if you've already done the guided loop once, or you're staying a few days and just want a fast way to get from the CBD to South Perth for lunch, the e-scooter is the better tool. It's cheaper per trip, there's no booking window to work around, and you're not locked into anyone else's pace.
What the guided tour actually covers
The Swan River Bridges route runs along the city side before crossing to South Perth and looping back, taking in both the Narrows and the old Causeway crossing points. It's a sensible structure, because it means riders see the skyline from two very different vantage points in one session rather than just skirting one bank.
I'll admit I was mildly dubious the first time I booked one of these, having sat through a few too many
