Warsaw amends e-scooter rules

These concern parking spaces, speed limits and no-go areas

Warsaw introduces new rules for the use of electric scooters, its city website announced today. Five vehicle rental operators have just signed an agreement with the city regulating the rules of moving and parking e-scooters in public spaces. The changes are meant to resolve the chaotic situation that has been spoiling the urban landscape of the Polish capital since the introduction of these devices in 2018, as well as to improve road safety.

New rules for speed, parking and access of e-scooters in Warsaw

The lack of appropriate regulations regarding what an e-scooter is, where it can move and park have led to increased risks for all participants in the Warsaw traffic in the past few years. Luckily, the Polish capital has decided to follow in the footsteps of other EU cities, such as Copenhagen and Helsinki by regulating this form of soft mobility.

On 20 May, the city enacted a regulation regarding the basic principles and definitions related to e-scooters. Another regulation from early November determined the technical conditions and equipment for these vehicles. Consequentially, in the last few months, detailed rules have been worked on together with operators offering rental e-scooters.

The final step is the signature of an agreement with five companies operating in Warsaw (Bolt, Dott, Lime, Blinkee and TIER). Thus, the new rules for e-scooters concern:

• Parking: allowed only in designated areas, and if there are none - on the pavement, parallel to its outer edge. The city is currently designating a network of parking spaces with an appropriate sticker and expects to create thousands of regulated parking spaces, thereby limiting random parking. Likewise, operators will only be allowed to deliver e-scooters to designated places;
• Speed: e-scooters cannot travel faster than 20 km/h, which will be set on the device by the operator. At some locations, the limits are set even lower to 12 km/h;
• No-go zones: similarly to bikes, access for e-scooters to some locations will be barred. This involves the Old Town, Royal Łazienki Park and Krasiński Garden.

Finally, the effects of the changes are yet to be evaluated. For this reason, operators will provide the city with some data on trips and rentals as well as other statistics that may facilitate the planning of parking networks or infrastructure for e-scooters.