Madrid/València (EFE) offer this service are not allowed.
The general director of Traffic, Pere Navarro, believes that it is necessary to influence the regulation of electric scooters, but warns that “we are in an excessively prohibitionist era” and believes that if a referendum like the one in Paris were held in Spanish cities , the result would also be mostly against the rental companies.
In Madrid, the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has criticized the “tiny” participation (7.9%) in the Parisian referendum and has said that he does not “share” that the “solution” regarding scooters is “prohibit”, as “the left usually does”.
Similarly, in Zaragoza the PP-Ciudadanos government team also rules out calling a consultation, since there are already regulations for the circulation of this type of vehicle and, as they say, given the problems generated by improperly parked scooters, they created thousands of parking spaces on the road for bicycles, motorcycles and Personal Mobility Vehicles.
In Seville, the only operator of these vehicles (Voi) in the city is also not afraid that the results of the Paris referendum will affect its fleet.
As the company explained to EFE, this situation should not be extrapolated to the Andalusian capital due to the differences between the French and Spanish markets, to which is added an increase in the use and popularity of this transport in the Seville city in the last times.
Prohibit or discourage the use of rental scooters
The controversy surrounding rental electric scooters, their misuse and accidents have led to companies that rent these vehicles not being allowed in cities like Barcelona or Valencia.
The mayor of Valencia, Joan Ribó, has assured that the consistory has not allowed them since 2019 because “sometimes you can’t even walk down the street because they are all lying around” and, regarding the result of the Paris referendum, he has celebrated that the French capital “is going to look like” its city with the ban on the rental of these vehicles.
In Valladolid, the use of scooters has not been banned, but the City Council launched its new municipal bicycle rental service just two months ago, which aims to get users of electric scooters to abandon this means of transport and replace it with electric scooters. bikes.
Complaints about the use of scooters in various cities
However, there are also cities in which the use of rental electric scooters has generated repeated complaints from residents.
In the case of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, there have been protests, especially due to the practice of some users of leaving them abandoned on the sidewalks, a fact that can be sanctioned with 100 euros.
And in Palma de Mallorca there is a certain controversy with scooters for personal use, since there are users who circulate on the sidewalks instead of on the bike lanes, as denounced by a platform of pedestrians affected by the incorrect use of these scooters.
Same regulations but with particularities in some cities
On January 2, 2021, the Royal Decree came into force that with the regulations on Personal Mobility Vehicles, among which are electric scooters (for rental and personal use), although each municipality has its own ordinances that users must achieve.
For example, the municipalities of Benidorm, Palencia, Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid), Córdoba or Mahón (Menorca), have required that users have civil liability insurance, something that is not required in the rest of Spain.
There are also differences in the minimum age for its use, since, according to their municipal ordinances, in Madrid and Seville the minimum age is 15 years, while in Barcelona it is 16.
In addition, the controversy over the misuse of these vehicles has led to political groups such as the Popular Party in cities like Vitoria asking for more regulation of their use and establishing specific sanctions for the proliferation of these vehicles.