The Tønsberg municipal council has asked the municipal director to consider tightening rules for electric scooters in the city center, according to the council. Measures under consideration include usage bans and speed restrictions in areas with high pedestrian activity. Politicians in Tønsberg want e-scooters to be used more in bike lanes and require rental companies to use technological solutions to ensure compliance. Dedicated parking zones for e-scooters may also be introduced. Tens of thousands of e-scooters are deployed in Norwegian cities, and emergency rooms report many accidents. Oslo municipality has set a cap of 8,000 e-scooters.
Meanwhile, Ryde is allowed to rent out 1,200 e-scooters in Skien and Porsgrunn this year, the same number as last year, according to Ryde Technology. Ryde's contact person Ole August Kjærvik said they will gradually have more e-scooters available for rent towards summer, and demand is good and increasing. Only Ryde applied to rent out e-scooters in Grenland, according to Skien municipality. According to NRK Norge, Jens Eide of Ryde Norge described that they are working to facilitate as best as possible.
We are working to facilitate as best as possible.
In Östersund, there will be significantly more e-scooters this year, and the rental areas have been expanded, according to Östersunds kommun. Carola Jonsson, traffic engineer at Östersund municipality, said the municipality has allowed the rental company to increase the number of scooters to 900. "We have listened to people's wishes and seen the need to expand the areas where it is allowed to use the e-scooters. And therefore we have also said yes to the rental company increasing the number of scooters to 900," Jonsson said. She added that surprisingly few complaints were received about e-scooters last summer. The municipality will work more to prevent improper parking and identify high-risk accident locations. Analysis of last year showed about half as many accidents involving e-scooters as with regular bicycles in Östersund, according to Jonsson. "Analysis of last year showed about half as many accidents with e-scooters involved as with regular bicycles. But we will work even more with so-called geofencing, with both temporary no-go zones or that the speed is automatically reduced in certain places where we have seen increased risk. The municipality has also required the rental company to work even more with warnings and fines for those who misbehave in various ways," Jonsson said. However, traffic police chief Jimmy Norberg remains concerned about traffic safety with e-scooters in Östersund, according to Norberg.
In the UK, Brighton and Hove Council is expected to bring up to 400 e-scooters to the city, distributed across 37 docking stations, according to the council. In Norway, two operators have been permitted by the municipality to rent out e-scooters in Ålesund, according to Ålesund municipality. In Ålesund city center, parking is only allowed within defined zones to improve accessibility and reduce poorly parked scooters.