The service has been available in Groningen since this spring. There are now almost 500 scooters on the road and that causes nuisance, says the municipality.
Here too, there are mainly complaints about scooters that are placed everywhere. “You see them on the street, on the sidewalk and in the park”, says Alderman Broeksma (GroenLinks). “These are the places where they have to be parked, because you cannot park them on private property. But they are in our public space, which we are proud of and careful with. We find that a problem.”
Besides the fact that the scooters are parked incorrectly, there are also reports of people driving around drunk on them, says Broeksma.
At the moment, the municipality can do little to tackle the nuisance and Groningen does not want to ban the shared scooter. The vehicle can contribute to more sustainable mobility in the city. That is why there will be a license for providers of shared vehicles.
Not at night anymore
Next year, Groningen wants to regulate per license that a maximum of two providers may jointly rent 300 scooters, the minimum age will go from 16 to 18, they may no longer be ridden at night and the scooters will have fixed parking spaces. The city council will discuss the conditions for the permit tonight.
The largest provider of scooters in Groningen, GO Sharing, believes that a permit can curb the proliferation of providers. The company does think that more vehicles should be allowed. “Customers will encounter fewer vehicles in the app, so they will fall back on their own trusted vehicle, a car or scooter,” says Lloyd Drop on behalf of the provider. “In this way, the transition from private transport to shared transport is delayed.”
GO Sharing also tries to tackle the parking problem itself. The customer must send a photo of the parked scooter after the ride. If it turns out that the scooter is parked incorrectly, the customer will receive a warning, the second time a fine and the scooter parked at the third error, the customer is no longer allowed to use the service. The company has 3200 vehicles on the road throughout the Netherlands, the number of people on the blacklist can be counted on two hands.
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