Spanish Capital to Ban Electric Scooter Rentals Due to Safety Concerns and Traffic
Madrid authorities will ban the rental of electric scooters through mobile apps, and the licences of Lime, Dott and Tier Mobility will be cancelled from October this year after the city's three licensed operators failed to impose restrictions on the movement of their customers or control their parking, the mayor of the Spanish capital said.
José Luis Martínez-Almeida said the day before that the city has no plans to grant new licences to other operators.
‘The market has been found to be unable to meet the requirements set by the mayor's office to ensure the highest level of security for citizens,’ he said in a statement.
The Madrid City Council has regulated the e-scooter rental market since May 2023, allowing only Amsterdam-based Dott, German Tier Mobility and American Lime, whose scooters are available on the Uber app. They were allowed to rent 2000 scooters each.
The three operators had to provide the mayor's office with access to their data and were ordered to implement technology that forced customers to leave their scooters in designated areas and prevented them from renting scooters on pedestrian streets or near historic parks. However, the operators did not comply with these conditions, the report said, adding that they had 20 days to appeal.
As a reminder, Paris banned the rental of electric scooters last year after a public consultation.