Some like to use e-scooters, others are annoyed by the scooters.
After all, municipalities can now ask landlords to pay.
The trendy electric standing scooters polarize city dwellers.
Some like to use them to save themselves a few meters on foot or kilometers in public transport, others are annoyed by the vehicles that sometimes speed illegally over the sidewalk (or even on the motorway) or are parked wildly.
Again and again there are dangerous incidents with e-scooters.
Should a higher alcohol limit actually apply in the future, the popularity of e-scooters should increase.
So it's no wonder that the municipalities whose streets they use want to share in the commercial renting - and will be allowed to do so in the future.
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Cities are allowed to collect money from e-scooters.
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© Federico Gambarini/dpa/archive image
E-Scooter: Rental companies have to pay for street use
This has now been decided by the administrative court in Cologne, and thus dismissed a lawsuit by four e-scooter providers.
They had sued the city of Cologne, which has been charging fees of 85 to 130 euros per vehicle and year in the special use statute that has been in force since 2022.
The scooter rental companies justified their objection by saying that the fees practically prevented the offering of e-scooters in the city area.
This contradicts the applicable bicycle and local mobility law.
In addition, the fees are disproportionately high compared to those for rental bicycles and car sharing offers.
E-scooters: disabilities caused by incorrectly parked scooters
The court sees it differently: The fees take into account the fact that incorrectly parked rental scooters repeatedly lead to disabilities - which is less common with rental bikes.
According to the court, both bicycle and car sharing offers make a greater contribution to reducing car traffic than e-scooters.
The fees also do not mean that e-scooter rental is no longer worthwhile.
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The scooter operators can still appeal the verdict.
(With material from SP-X)
List of rubrics: © Federico Gambarini/dpa/archive image
