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Stockholm rolls out parking fines for electric scooters – good or bad idea?

The Local Sweden
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Stockholm rolls out parking fines for electric scooters – good or bad idea?
Electric scooters: tech wonder or unsafe eyesore? Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT

Stockholm will start rolling out parking fines for electric scooters, whose increasing popularity in recent years has not come without side effects in Swedish cities.

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In recent years a number of e-mobility startups have dropped thousands of the scooters on the pavements of cities, encouraging people to borrow them via apps.

But complaints have also been raised about toppled-over electric scooters strewn across pavements.

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Now, Stockholm has decided to slap a fine of 250 kronor (approximately $30) on the companies behind the scooters every time the city's traffic wardens have to move them out of the way.

"We want electric scooters to make it easier to move around on the streets of Stockholm. Instead, it's often the complete opposite," said Green Party representative Daniel Helldén, the Stockholm city councillor responsible for traffic issues, in a statement.

"Nobody should have to be afraid of tripping over an electric scooter on their way to the grocery store," he added.

Meanwhile, electric scooter companies started taking action themselves on Tuesday.

Voi told broadcaster TV4 on Tuesday that it would as part of a pilot scheme start fining its users in the southern city of Helsingborg if they park their scooters in the wrong place.

It will be enforced by telling users to send a picture of their parked scooter to Voi, and if the Helsingborg trial works out it will be rolled out to the rest of the country.

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[email protected] 2021/02/03 00:06
Yeah, totally.<br />Go after the things you can actually lift out of the way and ignore everybody that drives their cars on the sidewalk.

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