Electric scooters lying around all over the place, blocking sidewalks and becoming tripping hazards, plus nasty accidents and conflicts with pedestrians, cyclists and motorists – what many people in Munich experience and complain about is now feared in Unterschleißheim as well. Because the company Bird Rides Germany wants to set up e-scooters in the city, with which you can zoom through the city after registering via app. The city has no choice. Scooters cannot simply be banned. That is why Unterschleißheim wants to develop a concept with the company to get the speedsters on the road in a somewhat orderly manner.
So far, electric scooters, which can be borrowed for a fee and parked freely in an urban area, are mainly known from metropolises. In Munich they are an integral part of the cityscape. The company Bird has recently discovered the area around Munich and has now set up its scooters in Dachau, Germering and Fürstenfeldbruck. Unterschleißheim is to follow in spring 2022. Then everyone who is at least 14 years old should be able to start racing after registering via the app. It costs one euro to unlock the scooter. In Germany, depending on the city, there is another 15 to 25 cents per minute on top.
The Berlin-based company Bird, which is one of the global leaders in the USA, was the first to set up e-scooters in Germany in 2018: together with the city of Bamberg. According to your own account, you see yourself as a pioneer of a new form of “micromobility”. After a lot of anger, chaos and complaints in the wild early days, it is more important than ever to dispel reservations. The company has therefore turned to the town hall in Unterschleißheim and offered to define “framework conditions” with the city. Still, some are skeptical. For example, Martin Reichart (Free Citizenship) said in the Environment Committee of the Unterschleissheim City Council, where Bird’s request was presented: “I only see ecological damage. This is a toy, not a vehicle. Conditions in Munich are a catastrophe.” Rebecca Riedelbauch (Greens) also warned that the e-scooters will compete with the MVG rental bikes.
The town hall is striving for an agreement to counter emerging anger in advance. There is talk of an initially six-month trial operation, at the end of which the experiences are to be processed. 50 to 80 e-scooters are to be set up in the urban area, the speedsters are regularly collected and charged. The cooperation agreement is intended to stipulate no parking zones and repairs, and complaints management is also planned. The city should also be provided with the movement data. Preferred parking areas can also be marked. Anyone who properly parks their scooter there after the trip will be rewarded with a bonus system. It is now also mandatory to take a photo of the parked scooter. At Bird, an AI software then checks whether the scooter has been parked as it should be.
How big the business area will be, i.e. where the scooter drivers are and where the vehicles may be parked, should be significant. The latter in particular should still provide material for discussion. For example, the city wants to keep schoolyards free from scooters and the premises of the business campus. Parking at the center for the visually impaired and the senior citizen center should be prohibited. The city does not want to let the two-wheelers roll over the town hall square so that pedestrians are not endangered. Sidewalks are taboo anyway, said Mayor Christoph Böck (SPD) in the committee.
A critical area is the Bezirksstraße as a central shopping street. Wanting to get there and away quickly is understandable, said SPD city councilor Thomas Breitenstein. But the sidewalks are narrow, parked scooters become an obstacle. In the Valentinspark, the scooters should even run out of juice on their own. Nobody should skate over gravel paths there. A lot can be regulated technically. According to Bastian Albrecht from the building authority, the GPS location system can be used to determine where the e-scooters can and cannot be started with an accuracy of eight meters.
Mayor Böck spoke out in the committee against a complete refusal and promoted a cooperation agreement. “Otherwise they’ll just do it.” The traffic regulations allow that. Much has improved since the chaos of the past. In the town hall, the scooters give you a chance to offer people a new means of transport on the first and last kilometers to and from the train station. Excessive restrictions in the business area, for example at the train stations, made the whole thing uninteresting, warned Bastian Albrecht from the building authority. The agreement with Bird should be in place by the end of the year. In March, April the scooters should roll.