Two rental companies of the controversial electric scooters did not want to meet the requirements. The dispute went to court, Gelsenkirchen's administration was proven right - and now has inquiries from other cities.
Gelsenkirchen - The e-scooters for rent, which are controversial in many places, must disappear from the city in Gelsenkirchen by this weekend. In a dispute between the Ruhr area city and the two rental companies Bolt and Tier, the Gelsenkirchen administrative court decided that the two companies had to comply with the city's order to "remove the e-scooters from public transport by April 20, 2024".
The city had previously required rental companies to verify the identity of their users. “Unfortunately, the e-scooters are mainly used improperly, including in pedestrian zones, on sidewalks and there have been many serious accidents,” city spokesman Martin Schulmann told the German Press Agency on Thursday. However, the users have not yet been identified. WDR and other media had previously reported.
So far, just providing your name is enough to rent an e-scooter from the two rental companies. This means that imaginary names could also be stored in the rental app, but the actual customers cannot be identified, said Schulmann. The city therefore required that users register once with the rental companies using their ID card or driver's license when registering, so that they can be identified if necessary. Bolt and Tier appealed against the corresponding regulatory order, but have now failed in preliminary legal protection proceedings before the Administrative Court (VG).
Rental e-scooters are considered a risk in many places
In many cities in Germany, e-scooters are considered a major nuisance and safety risk because, when parked carelessly or thrown on the ground, they become an obstacle and accidents are caused by sometimes reckless use.
According to Schulmann, there have already been serious accidents in Gelsenkirchen. A two-year-old girl was knocked over and suffered serious head injuries, and the e-scooter driver ran away. An e-biker was fatally injured when he crashed into an e-scooter that was lying in the middle of the path in the dark. Accidents are also repeatedly reported in other cities. Martin Schulmann reported that we have already received many inquiries from other municipalities.
What does the administrative court say?
According to the VG, “it is not clear that the city's decision to make the granting of permits dependent on an identity check of the users is obviously erroneous in its discretion.” The public interest in the city's “immediate fulfillment of this obligation, which in all probability was legally expressed.” predominate.
It went on to say: "The company's request for the granting of special use permits, which was aimed at the provisional continued operation of the e-scooter rental service, was unsuccessful." An appeal can be lodged against the decision from last Monday, which will be decided by the Higher Administrative Court for North Rhine-Westphalia .
Schulmann said on Thursday that he had not seen a single rental e-scooter in the city at the moment - before the deadline on Saturday. There are a total of 350 e-scooters. Apart from the two rental companies, there are no other providers active in the city. There are already many municipalities that want to know “exactly how we did it.”
The city of Gelsenkirchen is the first major German city to remove e-scooters from the city in this way. “We are pioneers.” If used appropriately and safely in accordance with traffic regulations, e-scooters could definitely make sense and be an environmentally friendly alternative, added the city spokesman.
The Shared Mobility (PSM) platform, which according to its own statements “as an association of leading providers of shared mobility” represents their interests in politics and the public, initially did not comment when asked by the dpa. According to the PSM website, Bolt is one of the members. dpa