The Isar fishermen are sounding the alarm: Drunk or radical opponents of scooters often throw e-scooters into the Isar.
The authorities and the Isar fishermen are now demanding better communication with the rental companies.
The Isar water is currently only nine degrees, so the wetsuit is compulsory for the Isar fishermen.
The volunteer nature lovers keep moving out to rescue e-scooters from the river.
This year they were able to fish out 35 of the controversially discussed vehicles in Munich *.
"We try to keep the Isar clean," says Jan Okusluk.
“Many drunk or radical opponents of e-scooters throw scooters off bridges into the river.
We recover these, place them with an information sign at the side of the road and inform the providers. "
Munich: "We not only fish fish, but also scooters and bikes from the Isar"
“We not only fish fish, but also scooters and bikes from the Isar.
Because we love and protect this unique river in the heart of Munich, ”it says on the information signs.
But sometimes the work is in vain.
The problem is often that the rental companies don't react and don't pick up the scooter.
“In the worst case, it ends up in the water again,” complains Okusluk.
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The Isarfischer mark the recovered e-scooters with information signs.
© Isarfischer
The trend is alarming, because the Isar fishermen are only active on the Isar and only retrieve those vehicles that they discover themselves.
Far more cases are on record at the water management office, building department, municipal utilities and the energy supplier Uniper: They fished more than 220 e-scooters * from Munich's waters from 2019 to June 2021.
And that does not even include the vehicles that the rental companies salvaged themselves.
Munich: A rescue costs around 200 to 300 euros
"If we find a scooter, the operator will be asked to recover his device," explains the head of the Munich Water Management Office, Christian Leeb. “As a rule, this does not happen, and after around three weeks the request follows that we do this. The bill for the rescue is usually only paid slowly. ”This costs around 200 to 300 euros. Leeb would appreciate it if the operators named a permanent contact person in Munich or at least centrally in Germany. "The way things are currently going is unacceptable," emphasizes Leeb.
A motion by local politicians from Schwabing-Freimann goes in the same direction.
"If e-scooters with lithium batteries land in the water, this has a negative impact on the water quality and thus also on the animals living in the water," emphasizes Barbara Epple (Greens).
"The e-scooter and the built-in batteries lead to a considerable risk." The district committee therefore also calls for a German-speaking contact person for each rental company.
Calls to the respective hotlines often came to nothing.
Vendors have teams trying to recover missing scooters
Caspar Spinnen from the rental company Voi admits communication problems: “We are a digital company, which is why we answer e-mails the fastest.
City authorities are best advised to email our support team with the problem.
But we are also happy to name a direct contact person. ”Like other providers in Munich, Voi has teams that regularly try to recover missing scooters.
"Unfortunately, the GPS signal no longer works in the water," says Spinnen.
The last location point is therefore the point of reference.
Ten of the company's scooters are currently missing in Munich, but they do not necessarily have to be in the water.
"The GPS signal is often imprecise, which is why it can also be embankments and other areas at the edge of water," says Caspar Spinnen.
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Even rental bikes often end up in the water.
© Isarfischer
In the meantime, many providers have set up prohibited zones around bodies of water in which the e-scooters can no longer be parked.
The Isar fishermen consider this to be an important signal.
Above all, however, you are a thorn in the side of those operators who do not react at all to information.
"Many rental companies save the money for salvaging or cannibalizing the defective scooter and ignore us," says Jan Okusluk.
“It can't go on like this.”
* Tz.de / muenchen is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
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