It was five o’clock on a recent Monday afternoon, and in one of the busiest ports between the city center and surrounding neighborhoods, rush hour was in full swing. Hundreds of vehicles running on the bridge Dronning Louise every minute, but that is Copenhagen, the vast majority of them, some 48,000 of the closing tags were bicycles, not cars. Under the rising tide of cargo bikes, fixie, simple, old-fashioned bicycles, two tourists were upright on e-scooters, their uncertain texture that takes a couple of bells of the carillon bad vorbeien bicycles. From the sidewalk, Djernes Marie, a student of 24 years, who was standing next to his bike as he waited for a friend who has been watching with concern. “Yes, I am a bit ‘annoying,” he said. “You do not seem to really know what they’re doing.” Bird, lime, Circ, Animal, Dr., You, flight, Scoot, Trotti, Poppi: from 2017 in California his first appearance, electric scooters with names that sound like modern versions of Snow White’s dwarfs have appeared in more than 100 cities , the descendants of the next company on alternative transportation has been the target (which includes me about themselves, which recorded losses in spite of the recent $5.2 billion dollars, has its own line of E-Scooter, jump). But for all its success, this new form of “micro-mobility” as his supporters like to call, a whole range of security issues has led to impassable sidewalks risks. The solution, say many scooter lawyers in the United States and Europe, is the kind of bike paths in infrastructure, to create a lot of parking- in bicycle-friendly cities such as Copenhagen and Amsterdam found. But as these cities are learning, e-scooters and bicycles do not play well together either. It is not hard to understand the appeal of electric scooters. covering for a commuter on the train from the suburbs who arrive late and half slog mile walk in the office with a view or a tourist with a single day in a city and a lot of land, the devices have a simple solution: Download ‘application to add credit card information, a release of the apparent gazillions of scooter parked nearby, and you can start. Why are dockless, devices can be left anywhere, and because they run on electric batteries instead of fossil fuels, which allows users to feel comfortable with an eco-friendly choice. And above all, as its heavy use among young people suggests, speeding on an e-scooter for the city is just plain fun. But security is a growing problem. The collisions with cars and pedestrians have posted thousands of users of e-scooters and their unsuspecting victims to hospitals; A study by the Center for Disease Control for the city of Austin, Texas was about 20 accidents per 100,000 trips, with half of those considered serious. Scooters are also brought to the dead in Paris, London, San Diego, Singapore and Barcelona, among other cities in the report. On 9 August, four deaths within three months, Atlanta banned their use at night. A few days later, it announced a French organization 60 or so injured people in clashes e-scooters, for negligence to sue the authorities in Paris for the protection of pedestrians. With an estimated 20,000 trotinettes on its roads, many of them driving on sidewalks, abandoned in heaps in city squares, or thrown into the Seine, it’s no wonder that Paris is the situation as “anarchy” was featured in this summer above its time friendly mayor Anne Hidalgo e-scooter. But they differ with from country legislation to country, and even placing the largest number of cities devices in the city, and with a growing number of companies, as in many cities as possible (authorized Madrid only 18 different operators) in a groped to achieve a dominant market position, the chaos and the risk-seem to be growing. At least a solution for this situation better infrastructure Wild West, advocates say. published in a safety report in April, electric scooters Californians Vogel, with a presence in more than 100 cities from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv, he noted, however, that is called helmets for users who sends the request to the cities same “designing for safety.” for cycle paths and similar investments in infrastructure, the report noted, “effectively reduce the risk of accidents for all road users.” Maxim Romain, CEO and co-founder of Amsterdam-based e-scooter Dr. vera. “We work closely with the community to invest in infrastructure,” says the Dutch company that is currently active in Belgium, France and Italy, but hopes to expand his country of origin as well. “Like everyone else, first we sit on the sidewalk because we could not [it] station. But now, we just have to divide the parks, recommends every community. And we help 2,500 seats to open more parking for the common E- scooter. “In places like San Francisco and London, the Pro-E-scooters groups found common cause with cyclists. In July, a television presenter died when the electric scooter with a truck on the same south collided properties round London in which a cyclist in 2018 was killed, although vehicles are now prohibited in London, the city will review their status and recently met with representatives of birds and lime. Rachel White, head of policy for Sustrans, a U.K. He said cycling advocacy group recently The Guardian: “may be In general, a different set of organizations lobbying for improved bike paths only a good thing.” And the popularity of the device and its change risks-may-infrastructure so that the mayor of Atlanta bicycles Keisha Lance Bottoms on Sunday, promised in an editorial for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the city would put temporary barriers and traces painted in place for e-scooters and motorcycles separated by Automobiles: never. But already discovered some cities with this type of infrastructure that a strong bicycle culture with common e-scooter or is not necessarily compatible. In Copenhagen, for example, where half is made of all business trips or school by bike, registration was decided mixed. “Egypt had 10 wounds. Copenhagen has only one” complained the cultural editor of the daily Berlingske Anne Sophie Hermansen, in terms of e-scooters, which have schrieb ,, tyrannisieren look ‘und’lächerlich traffic. motor gate-On Twitter, the hashtag # løbehjulsgate or ‘popping throughout the summer was referring to the controversy, the devices are produced. Some of the resentment resulting from the use of motor companies public furniture in the city. “As cyclists in Copenhagen feel when you consider that the city has built an appropriate place for you,” says Klaus Bondam, director of the Danish Cyclists Federation. “There is a sense of democracy, which was built through the streets of the city for several generations. This is fundamentally disturbing at this time; [E-scooter] is not our democratic model of how we use urban space.” This space could be filled. “We have one of the largest cycling capabilities around the world,” Mikkel Halby Mindegaard, head of the street says that the city of Copenhagen. “But we see traffic jams on some roads of E-scooter. And we do not have enough bicycle parking facilities. The add scooter on top of that a lot.” In Münster, Germany, where citizens bicycles 2-1 outnumbered, the city government has the pressure on the regulation of infrastructure and the careful selection so far limited. Shared e-scooters were the first on the road on July 27 allowed, but only 200 of them. After a test phase, this number will double, but all of them will be provided by animals with headquarters in Berlin available that collects all its fleet every evening, and not start in the morning, a measure that ensures the scooter left in a random way streets or frequently parked on the sidewalks. “We had a lot of problems with bicycles on stocks,” says Andreas Pott traffic planners. “We learned from” Amsterdam cyclists took a different path. The Dutch city has over 400 miles of bike trails and bike paths, but each day trip with nearly half of the population by bicycle, some of these roads have become crowded dangerous. established the Institute for road safety research Even before the advent of e-scooters, a report in 2016, the number of accidents that bottlenecks are increasing along the most traffic routes. In an attempt to relieve the pressure, recently, mopeds Dutch government, forced previously allowed by bicycle in the road with cars. E-scooters, but covered by previous rules that were originally designed for Segways that motorized vehicles require tires and dual brakes are fitted before they can be certified for public use in bicycle lanes. So far, no manufacturer has complied with the requirements. Even if they do, it is clear that it is not Dutch take them. “I do not know Amsterdam very interested in the current situation change,” says Maud de Vries, co-founder and CEO of BYCS, Amsterdameren organization that promotes cycling. “There is not enough space for bicycles, as it is. And with their speed difference, accidents and the impact on the environment, a lot of people simply do not see the benefits of them.” A closer look has some questioned the same E-Scooter self-branding as a green transportation solution. First, do not last very long. just take their ease of design and heavy they are exposed, birds and scooter lime in Louisville and Indianapolis 28 days on average, with only a handful marks two months to make it over. Even the bold claims – CEO Romain, for example, he says Dr. scooter only a year on average – pale in comparison to the average bike lifecycle. If their Device casts doubt on E-motor environment, this is also their carbon footprints. A study of the impact of the life cycle (which includes consideration not only contains carbon emitted while the unit is in operation, but also that granted by the production, transportation, and loaded vehicles and their batteries), scientists from the North Carolina State University conducted and published this month in the journal Environmental Research Letters has found that even though e-scooter had less than half of total passenger cars (202 grams of carbon dioxide per mile for the former vs. 414 grams for the latter to ) the output is still dramatically higher than bicycles, that its emissions in the life cycle only an average of 8 grams per mile. And while e-scooter, in fact, still a viable alternative to car rental (respondents 34% of drivers said they would do the journey by car, the devices were not available), the same study, in Raleigh, North Carolina , shows that 49% left-percentage -I with still greater than or biked. These proportions are more or less coincides with the results from Portland, Oregon Bureau of Transportation, which led to his 2018 study found that 45% of the motor-racing and was would have been on foot or by bicycle. “Of course, people away from cars is a good thing to move,” says Mindegaard. “But we have no concrete evidence that e-scooters do it. We have no figure yet to be where your customers are coming from, but we know that tourists who use a lot, and young. That’s how [e-scooter driver] seems “Technically probably comes from people who would be considered lost or bike the people in the car. Visa, e-scooters are currently illegal in Denmark, because the national law of each object in the public space for commercial purposes be licensed calls made and no company has not yet received a permit. But lime, you, animals and many more “in the streets moves before we got through the approval process,” says Mindegaard: “And ‘all happened so fast, and it has grown so fast that we do not see. ” The Copenhagen city is currently a pilot program that permits for 200 e-scooters stationed in the historic center and other 3000 award in remote areas. But in the meantime, many companies do happily anyway because the legal basis for the prohibition of enforcing complicated enough that the police, after Mindegaard, cite limited resources, no ticket. but they must be drunk drivers and scooters. According to a report notes it was revealed that more than 100 people suffered injuries from January strong enough to e-scooter to send them to local hospitals Region, Copenhagen police began Ticketing found driving under the influence. But security remains a concern, as well as other health effects. In Greater Copenhagen, where the number of sick days is reduced by one every 745 miles biking, there is concern among cycling interest groups, such as the Danish Cycling Federation, on top of overweight and in terms of passive electrical switching diseases scooter cause. All of these concerns the health, safety, every day the introduction of public infrastructure are activist Yael Bassan mind when moving the e-scooter around the shop and post pictures on social media about themselves doing the territory that inevitably pushing . But as the owner of bicycles in Copenhagen, it has an additional problem: the economic survival. Located in the picturesque Nyhavn district one of the most popular tourist destinations in the city, its bike rental is losing what they estimated at 5-10% per year for e-scooters, a decline that began last year. “Every one of my clients scooter that gets 100 crowns, that I do not get,” he says. “If one of them is 30 per day, which is 3,000 crowns per day, 30,000 a month, a quarter of a million in six months.” There are approximately 300 bicycle shops in Copenhagen, and most of them also gives power; confirms anecdotal information from some owners that fall to see the revenue. But what is particularly eating, says Bassan businesses lose money to actively ignore the law. “I applied for permission to put my bike on the square in front of my shop, and I was told that was not possible,” he says. “If I put my bike there, I’ll get a fine. But every day there are 20 or more parked scooter there and tried to take my clients, and nobody does anything. So I started furiously.” Since started the scooter on twitter videos and photos of themselves moved detachment, has received a lot of support from other tired Copenhagen, he says, dodging the devices on sidewalks and bike paths. “Failure in a positive way should these days. People are afraid to annoy disorder because it makes it sound old and outdated. But we have to ask, we want this error? Is it good for us?” The Cycling Federation Danish, Klaus Bondam director asks same thing. Although comfortably sharing the track space with the electric scooter makes it ( “We have more or less the same speed going,” he says with a smile), knows that is not the case for the elderly or parents with small children. He is concerned that these groups will simply stop cycling, while concern about the impact of Copenhagen life when the public space succumbs private companies. “We have built a good cycling culture in Denmark,” he says. “Ruining This would be a terrible thing.” Picture copyright by Frederic J. Brown AFP / Getty Images
Cyclists and e-scooter collide in the battle for European roads
