The residents of Paris have decided to expel from their streets through a referendum one of the most common elements in many large cities: electric rental scooters.
The veto applied in the French capital with an overwhelming majority —although with very low participation— has also reopened the political and social debate in the most populated Spanish cities, where the generalization of its use has in many cases been accompanied by protests over breaches of regulations and occupation of sidewalks.
Barcelona and Valencia already decided a long time ago to prevent rental companies that leave vehicles on public roads from operating.
“Paris is going to look like Valencia”, commented this week Joan Ribó, the mayor of the Valencian capital, who in 2018 prohibited shared scooter services.
Ribó has no intention of lifting that blockade.
In the case of Barcelona, the City Council has never come to develop the regulations and the competition to allow them.
In 2018 and 2019, the City Council withdrew several hundred of these vehicles and sanctioned the two companies that decided to put them on the streets of the city.
And since then this service has been banned in Barcelona, a city that in recent years has been very focused on the mobility model applied by Paris, reports
Clara Blanchar
.
Rental scooters in the center of Madrid, this Wednesday.
Eduardo Oyana (EFE)
Rental scooters are present in Madrid.
And its mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida (PP), refused on Monday to launch a referendum to prohibit these companies from operating.
In the capital there are three authorized companies right now and the City Council has set a limit of 6,000 scooters on the streets, defends the councilor.
However, the mayoral candidate for Más Madrid, Rita Maestre, has advocated for "power to order on the sidewalks and in mobility" in the city, because now the streets "are difficult to use with bicycles, scooters and illegal terraces".
Given the rise of scooters (for rent and for private use), the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) approved a series of regulations at the beginning of 2021 where it included the way in which these vehicles should be used.
It is prohibited, for example, to drive on sidewalks and pedestrian areas.
But margin is left to the consistories so that they can establish their own rules, such as the mandatory use of an approved helmet.
As it is clearly a municipal competence, this type of mobility may be very present in the campaign for the next elections in May.
Sidewalks are the element at stake in this debate.
"It is the pedestrian who is giving up his space and is unsafe," says the president of Andando, Sonia Jichi.
Andando brings together about twenty associations from Spain and Portugal that defend the rights of pedestrians who "commit to active mobility and protect public space."
Jichi believes that if there was political will, a consultation could be held on rental scooters in Spain.
"Space is limited and we have to see how it is regulated," adds the coordinator of the PSOE's sustainability area, Antonio Giraldo.
A scooter user circulates through the Tetuán square in Barcelona, in January. Gianluca Battista
Several associations agree on the risk for pedestrians posed by rental scooters, since on many occasions users leave them on the sidewalks in any way.
This complicates life for people in wheelchairs or with reduced mobility and blindness who find more barriers than those that already existed.
The Ecom Federation is made up of 120 associations from all over Spain, mostly from Catalonia, and its objective is the defense of
the rights of people with physical or organic disabilities.
Montse García is part of this organization and criticizes the lack of spaces reserved for scooters or bicycles, such as bike lanes.
“If you incorporate this type of mobility elements, you have to have infrastructure, otherwise what you are going to have is a lot of vehicles on the sidewalk.
It is also necessary to have places where they can be stored and the operator is the one who has to take care of them”, adds García.
Those responsible for the scooters ending up abandoned on the sidewalks are the rental companies and the town halls, emphasizes Giraldo.
“There is no one watching, nor are there places to leave them.
The regulations say that they can be left on the iron bars where the bicycles are parked if they do not occupy 50% of the space, but there are not enough to park scooters either.
There aren't that many car parks and people leave them where they have finished their trip or where they can”, adds this socialist official.
Gorka Pradas, delegate in the Basque Country and Catalonia of
The Spanish Federation of Personal Mobility Vehicles (Fevemp) regrets "the inaction of governments" and advocates "guaranteeing" "coexistence" and promoting "modal changes with governments and rental companies."
The basic regulations of the DGT prevent, in addition to driving on sidewalks and pedestrian areas, going with headphones or that these vehicles exceed 25 kilometers per hour.
But on too many occasions, drivers ignore the regulations, denounces Giraldo: "The regulations are not followed as they should (...) I think that people are unaware of the regulations."
The technical coordinator of the Network of Walking Cities, Ana Montalbán, adds: “The rules are obvious, the DGT has regulated it quite clearly, but it is very difficult to apply.
If it is difficult to fine a car, imagine a scooter that can be entered in different places or even enter a portal.
Montalbán also warns "of the exponential increase in accidents with this type of vehicle", as has been discussed in recent road safety conferences.
Last Monday it happened again in León, where a child under the age of 14 who was driving an electric scooter died when colliding with a car.
In 2022, 299 accidents with scooters involved were registered in Spain and in which 12 people died.
In 90% of cases, there was also a related tourism, according to data from the HelloSafe insurance comparator.
In addition to the basic regulations, the DGT has approved a manual of technical characteristics for electric scooters that will mean that from next year all vehicles of this type that are marketed are certified and have braking systems or acoustic warnings.
"It will help reduce the number of accidents," says Jorge Ordás, deputy general director of Mobility Management and Technology of the DGT.
The scooter as a tool
But the associations differentiate between electric scooters for rent and those for personal mobility.
"You don't have to demonize them.
For people who had to make long journeys from the periphery to the center and who do not have the resources to have a car, this means of transport has allowed them to go to their place of work.
It can bridge socioeconomic distances”, says Montalbán.
Giraldo agrees: “The precarious classes use it more, and more women than men.
And above all the people who are dedicated to care”.
Pradas adds: "The electric scooter is the solution for millions of workers, as it is a sustainable, simple and economical alternative."
The solution to this problem of urban coexistence involves education and awareness, emphasizes Montalbán.
“It would be necessary to work so that the users of personal mobility scooters know the regulations.
A little test before taking the scooter”.
But Montalbán believes that without awareness campaigns it would not be of much use: “There are certain ages in which it is used as a toy.
Young people should be made aware of the most vulnerable people who are on the street.
And that they ask themselves: would I like my grandmother to feel this when she is walking?
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