The electric scooters They have been the personal mobility vehicle (which is what they are officially called) that has revolutionized cities the most in recent times. At first, they were used on sidewalks and all kinds of places, until the legislation was recalled and the authorities got serious. Then came the controversies with insurance and accidents. Now it has reached the point that Madrid has banned them from October for several reasons that we will analyze.
The first thing is that it has not been a unilateral ban. Private users who have their scooter will be able to continue using it, complying with traffic regulations. What the Madrid City Council has done is revoke the authorization of rental companies of electric scooters. Therefore, the public is charged that anyone could take it by registering in the app claiming that fail to comply with the established conditions at the bases. They still have a period of twenty days to present their objections, but things look bad for them.
The problem is that they have found that the market cannot meet the needs established by the City Council. guarantee the maximum possible security for citizens. This means that in 2023 they put in place a project to ensure greater control and security in the rental of electric scooters. The number of vehicles has already been reduced, limiting to 6,000 scootersequally shared by Dott, Lime and Tier Mobility, which were the companies that won the concession.
The council has since carried out periodic inspections and found that the three companies were violating some of the conditions established in the contract. This gives them the right to withdraw their permit. without having the right to compensationThey complain that Madrid City Council has been prevented from carrying out inspections and that electric scooters have not been deployed in a balanced manner.
It was said to have 3,600 units inside the M-30 and 2,400 in the rest of the municipality to maintain the ratio of 10 scooters per 10,000 residentsbut they have not been able to verify this data. Not to mention that they have not seen the implementation of technology that forces users to park in designated areas and they continue to find scooters in inappropriate places. The last reason is that the Insurance coverage is insufficient and does not meet the requirements of the authorizations.
