Scooter war in Spain
Mathieu Gorse/Julien Delacourt
Cities across Spain are grappling with electric scooters that have popped up on sidewalks across the country, helping riders zip around but exasperating drivers and pedestrians.
In Madrid, public opinion is divided over the hundreds of electric scooters which California-based start-up Lime has made available since mid-August.
Unlike schemes involving shared bicycles that must be left in docking stations, the scooters are dockless, so riders are responsible for parking them out of the way. The next rider can find the nearest scooter with a smartphone app, unlock it and use it for a fee.
Similar electric scooter sharing programmes have been introduced in other European cities including Paris, Vienna and Zurich.
In Madrid, Lime’s scooters, which have already been used over 100 000 times, are tolerated by the left-wing city hall, intent on reducing pollution. But the scooters are often left in places where they obstruct sidewalks and their users often speed by pedestrians or hog roads.
Last month a video of two people, including a child, wearing masks and racing along a highway near the port of Valencia on an electric scooter went viral. “They don’t respect anything at all. We need rules. It’s crazy. They ride in lanes reserved for buses and taxis. They cross in front of cars,” Fernando Sobrino, a taxi driver, said.
Jose Manuel, a 55-year-old salesman, complained the scooters “ride on sidewalks without any control”.
“There is a risk of getting rearended by one as I did the other day,” he said in central Madrid.
The arrival of the scooters in Madrid follows the introduction of a public electric bike share system in June 2014.
Users of the scooters are delighted. “You move around faster, you can visit more areas, it’s relaxing and easy to use,” said Monica Rodriguez, 58, at Madrid’s bustling Retiro park.
She admitted, though, that the scooters can be “dangerous and annoying for people who are walking”.
The introduction of this new form of transport caught big Spanish cities off guard. In Madrid, which is home to around 3.2 million people, the city hall only adopted measures on Friday.
The scooters are banned on pavements and pedestrian streets, but they are authorised on all roads where the speed limit is 30km an hour, a limit set to be implemented soon on 80% of the city’s streets.
Valencia is set to adopt new rules banning scooters from sidewalks. Barcelona, Spain’s secondlargest city which is overwhelmed by mass tourism, already bans the use of privately owned scooters from sidewalks, including “self service” scooter rentals like those offered by Lime.
When German firm Wind launched an electric scooter sharing programme in Barcelona in August, within hours police removed the vehicles. The municipality of Llobregat near Barcelona stopped Lime from setting up shop. The scenario was repeated in Valencia.
Lime deployed a fleet of scooters in the city in August without authorisation from city hall, which demands a licence for commercial activity on public roads. Lime’s scooters were removed and the firm was fined. It’s now trying to convince Valencia city hall to allow it to pay a fee in exchange for an operating licence. –