Riding the e-scooter is a lot of fun, but the scooters continue to cause trouble. Strict requirements for the distributors are intended to remedy the situation.
Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) - You lie on the sidewalk, stand in the middle of the bike path or even end up in the bushes: E-scooters have arrived as a new means of transport in the larger cities, causing problems there. Frankfurt, Kassel and Wiesbaden are trying to set tighter limits for the rental companies of the small electric scooters. The demand for a more decisive approach comes from the pedestrian association Fuss e.V., among others.
The city of Frankfurt has been relying on fee-based special use permits for scooter rental companies for almost a year. This bans parking on green spaces, cemeteries, bridges and playgrounds. When parking on the sidewalk, make sure there is enough space for pedestrians. In the side streets of the Zeil shopping mile, separate parking zones have been marked for the scooters, within a radius of 100 meters the scooters may not be parked. Other zones are to follow in the coming months.
The city limited the maximum number of allowed scooters from 18,000 to 12,000 and imposed additional requirements for the city center. Four distributors are currently active in the Main metropolis.
You only get the special use permits for half a year in order to have sanction options, as the designated Frankfurt traffic department head Wolfgang Siefert (Greens) says. This way was the quickest to implement. "A selection procedure such as a call for tenders takes considerably longer, but offers more design options. We are therefore driving this path forward in parallel," said Siefert, because despite significant improvements, the result of the scooter restrictions is not satisfactory.
Markus Schmidt from the local pedestrian association Fuss e.V. criticizes the city of Frankfurt for proceeding too slowly. The scooters are on the sidewalks and mostly not on the edge, but all over the place. Schmidt also criticized the fact that the limits on scooter parking spaces in Frankfurt were not being observed. The authorities should demand proof from the operators that they offer functioning technical solutions against the parking chaos - or draw consequences.
KASSEL and WIESBADEN are working on regulations similar to those in Frankfurt. Four rental companies are represented in the state capital with more than 2300 scooters. "Basically, an orderly parking is to be classified as useful in order to prevent obstructions and hazards on the road," explains a spokesman for the traffic department. Instead of voluntary agreements, binding standards would be sought. Special use permits and fixed parking zones are a way, at least in the city center. A first pilot project is planned for summer 2023. Wiesbaden sees scooters as a welcome addition to the urban mobility mix.
Three providers are active in KASSEL, and here, too, a special use statute is to regulate the market in the future. Special parking spaces should be marked in the city center. "It is sometimes difficult and dangerous for people with visual or walking impairments if e-scooters are in an unfavorable position or lying down," said a city spokesman. Vehicles parked in a dangerous or obstructive manner will be moved at a charge.
DARMSTADT has made agreements with clear specifications with the three providers who currently have around 1,000 scooters in the city area, says a spokesman for the city. This also applies to parking. In the long term, parking zones are also to be designated in the southern Hessian city, and pilot tests have already been carried out. The aim is to integrate the offer into the urban mobility mix in the best possible way. However, skepticism is appropriate when it comes to the ecological balance and durability of the scooters as well as the redistribution effects from pedestrian and bicycle traffic as well as buses and trains to the e-scooters.
It is unclear how great the ecological benefit claimed by the distributors actually is. E-scooters are a modern means of transport and a good addition to the mix of offers, says Professor Hans-Joachim Linke from the TU Darmstadt, who deals with the use of so-called micro-mobility, to which the scooters belong. This is especially true where there are gaps in local public transport.
However, surveys within Darmstadt have shown that the rental scooters are not used in order to leave the car at home. "This happens at most in places where taxi rides would otherwise be used," said Linke. E-scooters tend to replace short footpaths, short cycle paths or journeys by bus or train. They would also like to be used as a tourist attraction to explore inner cities.
