A city in Germany’s Ruhr area will officially ban the use of electric scooters from this weekend, the first in the country to do so.
In a dispute between the western city of Gelsenkirchen and the two rental companies Bolt and Tier, the local administrative judge ruled that the two companies must comply with the municipal decision to “remove the e-scooters from public traffic areas by April 20, 2024.” “
“We are pioneers,” city spokesman Martin Schulmann told dpa.
A Bolt spokesperson told dpa that the decision is not final. Only the two companies’ urgent applications have been rejected, he said.
The court’s ruling could be appealed.
The Shared Mobility (PSM) platform accused the municipal council of taking a “disproportionate and discriminatory approach” towards e-scooters, in a statement drawn up together with provider Tier.
The city previously required rental companies to establish the identities of their users.
“Unfortunately, e-scooters are mainly misused, including in pedestrian areas and on sidewalks, and many serious accidents have occurred,” Schulmann said.
Until now, it was sufficient to provide a name to rent an e-scooter from the two rental companies, Schulmann explains.
However, this means that users can log into the rental app with fake names and the actual customers cannot be identified. That is why the municipality has required users to register once with the rental companies with an identity card or driver’s license.
E-scooters are considered a major nuisance and safety risk in many cities in Germany, as they can become an obstacle if parked carelessly or thrown on the ground and can cause accidents due to sometimes reckless use.
