Lviv Is Changing the Rules for Electric Scooters
A trial period for new rules governing the use of electric scooter-sharing services will begin in Lviv on July 1. From now on, in the city center, scooters may only be parked in designated parking areas.
The new rules are being implemented in collaboration with rental service operators. The biggest change affects Lviv’s historic center and surrounding areas. The boundaries of the new zone coincide with the outer boundary of the third parking zone. It is here that users will only be able to end their ride at specially designated spots.
Users will be able to view all permitted parking spots in the rental services’ mobile apps. Before ending a rental, residents are advised to check the map to find the nearest location where they can legally leave their scooter. If a user parks an electric scooter in a prohibited area, rental operators will charge an additional fee of 100 hryvnias. City officials emphasize that for now, these new measures will operate in test mode. This phase will last two months.
According to Orest Oleskiv, deputy director of the Department of Urban Mobility and Street Infrastructure for bicycle infrastructure development, city officials will analyze the results after the trial period ends. “Based on the results of the trial period, we will assess the effectiveness of the new measures and, if necessary, adjust the boundaries of the parking zones, their number, or other conditions,” the official explained.
City officials note that the parking spots were selected to be convenient for users while not obstructing pedestrians, people with disabilities, or other road users. The main goal of the new rules is to make the use of electric scooters more orderly and safer. City officials hope this will help eliminate situations where scooters are left in the middle of sidewalks, near crosswalks, or in narrow passageways.
However, Lviv does not plan to stop at these changes. The city council is already working on new requirements for rental services. In particular, operators may be required to verify users’ ages and grant access to electric scooters only to people who are at least 16 years old.
Other proposals include making the use of protective helmets mandatory and reducing the maximum speed to 15 km/h in accident-prone areas of the city. The need to tighten regulations in Lviv is attributed to the rising number of injuries caused by electric scooters. According to city council data, in the last three months alone, more than 100 children were hospitalized after sustaining injuries while riding electric scooters.
That is why city officials want to make the use of this mode of transportation more regulated and safer for both riders and all city residents. If the trial period yields positive results, the new rules may become permanent, and the list of restrictions may be expanded. This was reported by the Lviv City Council.
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