Vinohrady has new places for storing electric scooters, and more will be added in Prague 2
New station for electric scooters in Slovenská street. Photo: P2
The City Hall of Prague 2 has agreed with bike sharing companies on the creation of places where it will be possible to leave electric scooters on the territory of the city, people have been complaining about loitering on the sidewalks for a long time. So far, five places in Vinohrady have been marked, more will be added. They informed the members of the management of Prague 2 about it.
The new marked places for storing electric scooters are at the corner of Římská and Italská, Budečská and Moravská, Bruselská and Londýnská, Blanická and Vinohradská and Slovenská and Francouzská streets.
“It is only the beginning, but the situation in Prague 2 is slowly starting to improve. There are significantly fewer complaints about discarded scooters, and it no longer happens that people bury them at every corner. I am convinced that this is the result of the town hall’s consistent and uncompromising attitude when dealing with bike sharing companies. It is evident that this type of shared transport needs a systemic solution and the setting of rules,” said Mayor Alexandra Udženija (ODS).
In the second part, according to her, the city’s regular inspections of parked scooters continue at the same time. Possible deficiencies are addressed by the bikesharing companies without delay, confirmed the mayor.
“Electric scooters must not obstruct or even endanger pedestrians in the streets. After an agreement with the police, we selected 31 locations that are located primarily outside the blue zones in the so-called traffic shadows. These places gradually in cooperation with TSK hl. m of Prague will be marked. At the moment, the first 5 marked stations are already marked and their number will increase, so that the streets of Dvojka are ready for the coming season,” added transport councilor Tomáš Halva (TOP 09).
According to him, the City Hall of Prague 2 is preparing to sign an agreement on the operation of bikesharing on the territory of the city district, which will introduce clear rules that will supervise bikesharing companies from their clients.
The plan includes, for example, a ban on the entry of electric bicycles and scooters into selected parks and squares, a ban on the use of acoustic signals for localization at night, or the obligation to operate an infoline to report errors of parked scooters.
In the past, there was a memorandum in the city, which was concluded with the operators of electric scooters by the municipality under the mayor Adriana Krnáčová (for ANO). However, the following coalition led by Mayor Zdenek Hřiba (Pirates) fired him in 2019 on the grounds that the operators were violating the memorandum of conditions. Since then, a new document could not be reached.
In addition to Prague 2, other city districts affected by the issue have begun to deal with the negative effects on their own axis. For example, the Lime company already has mandatory parking spaces in Prague 8, and is also negotiating with Prague 6. Already in the middle of last year, the Prague 3 city hall and the territory of the city district defined where shared bikes and scooters can park. At the same time, the CYRIL system was launched, within which people traveling with scooters can find the nearest place on the map where they can leave the vehicle with impunity. Prague 7 has launched a pilot project for parking shared means of transport. The designated parking spaces are currently in the lower Holešovice area.