New rules for e-scooters and bikes cluttering Berlin pavements

Berlin has finally announced a solution to the many randomly parked e-scooters and bikes which clutter the capital’s streets.

Berlin to designate parking for e-scooters and bikes

Berlin loves to breadcrumb and tease. There is a problem: randomly parked or dumped e-scooters and bikes clutter our pavements and roads, and we stumble over one every 77 metres. 

There is a simple solution: creating designated parking spaces for e-scooters and bikes. The Berlin Senate has announced it will designate 3.000 e-scooter and bike parking spaces, also known as “mobility stations”, across the city, but the entire project will take nine years to complete.

There are already 500 “mobility stations” across Berlin, and in certain neighbourhoods, such as Nollendorfkiez in Schöneberg or Schillerkiez in Neukölln, district authorities require riders to park their rented vehicles in designated areas.

As the additional 2.500 mobility stations are installed across the city, it will gradually become mandatory to park e-scooters and e-bikes in the nearest designated space.

ABSV says 2035 goal is “unacceptable”

Berlin’s Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ABSV) has long urged the city to designate e-scooter and e-bike parking spaces and said the 2035 completion goal was “unacceptable” and “much too late”. 

“The ABSV remains in dialogue with the Senate and will continue to push for an acceleration,” representative Thomas Krämer said in a press release.

While the regulations will protect blind people and other disabled groups, e-scooter and e-bike companies are arguing that they will damage their business model by making scooter and bike rentals less attractive.