After judgment
Rental e-scooters banned from Gelsenkirchen
E-scooters are on the side of the road. photo
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
Two rental companies of the controversial electric scooters did not want to meet the requirements. The dispute went to court, Gelsenkirchen’s administration was proven right – and now has inquiries from other cities.
E-scooters for rent are controversial in many places Gelsenkirchen they now have to disappear from the city by this weekend.
In a dispute between the Ruhr area city and the two rental companies Bolt and Tier, the Gelsenkirchen administrative court decided in an expedited procedure that the two companies had to comply with the city’s order to “remove the e-scooters from public traffic by April 20, 2024”.
The city had previously required rental companies to verify the identity of their users. “Unfortunately, the e-scooters are mainly used improperly, including in pedestrian zones, on sidewalks and there have been many serious accidents,” city spokesman Martin Schulmann told the German Press Agency on Thursday. However, the users have not yet been identified. WDR and other media had previously reported.
When asked by the dpa, a spokesman for Bolt emphasized that it was not a final decision. Only the urgent applications from the two companies were rejected. In a statement drawn up jointly with the provider Tier, the Shared Mobility (PSM) platform accused the city administration of taking “disproportionate and discriminatory action” against e-scooters. At 20 kilometers per hour, e-scooters are slower than a Pedelec and are the smallest vehicle on the road. The last word in the conflict is unlikely to have been spoken yet.
The position of the city administration
So far, providing your name is enough to rent an e-scooter from the two rental companies, said Schulmann. This means that imaginary names could also be stored in the rental app, but the actual customers cannot be identified. The city therefore required that users register once with the rental companies using an ID card or driver’s license when they register, so that they can be registered in the rental company can determine the need. Bolt and Tier appealed against the corresponding regulatory order, but have now failed in preliminary legal protection proceedings before the Administrative Court (VG).
Rental e-scooters are considered a risk in many places
In many cities in Germany, e-scooters are considered a major nuisance and safety risk because, when parked carelessly or thrown on the ground, they become an obstacle and accidents are caused by sometimes reckless use. According to Schulmann, there have already been serious accidents in Gelsenkirchen. A two-year-old girl was knocked over and suffered serious head injuries, and the e-scooter driver ran away. An e-biker was fatally injured when he crashed into an e-scooter that was lying in the middle of the path in the dark. Accidents are also repeatedly reported in other cities. Martin Schulmann reported that we have already received many inquiries from other municipalities.
What does the administrative court say?
According to VG, “it is not apparent that the city’s decision to make the granting of permits dependent on a user’s identity check is obviously erroneous in its discretion.” The public interest in an “immediate fulfillment of this obligation, which in all probability was legally expressed,” by the city predominates. It went on to say: “The company’s request for the granting of special use permits, which was aimed at the provisional continued operation of the e-scooter rental service, was unsuccessful.” An appeal can be lodged against last Monday’s decision, which the Higher Administrative Court for North Rhine-Westphalia will then also make a provisional decision on.
City spokesman Schulmann said there were a total of 350 e-scooters. Currently – before the deadline on Saturday – he hasn’t seen a single rental e-scooter in the city. There are no other rental companies active in Gelsenkirchen. There are already many municipalities that want to know “exactly how we did it.” The city of Gelsenkirchen is the first major German city to remove e-scooters from the city in this way. “We are pioneers.” If used appropriately and safely in accordance with traffic regulations, e-scooters could definitely be useful and an environmentally friendly alternative, added the city spokesman.
Bolt has filed a lawsuit
A Bolt company spokesman criticized the fact that since April 1st, Gelsenkirchen has been the only city in Germany to require operators of sharing e-scooters to carry out mandatory identity checks on customers. “As a provider, we reject this. In our view, it is an unjustified measure that has no relevance to road traffic or the providers’ special usage rights.” However, a final decision has not been made. This requires main proceedings, as administrative court spokesman Wolfgang Thewes explained. Such a lawsuit from Bolt has already been received by the VG. The VG currently has no complaint from the provider Tier.
According to Bolt, it is also examining “official liability claims” based on the expected economic damage. That would then be a civil procedure that, according to the VG, would have to be conducted before the regional court. The legal situation has not been finally clarified and yet the e-scooters have to be removed from the city, complained the Bolt spokesman. This directly affects around 40,000 users in Gelsenkirchen. “For the time being, they would have to make do without the popular and environmentally friendly mobility offer, with which they will have covered 400,000 kilometers in the city in 2023.”