After the electricity scooters have fallen sharply during the corona spring, they now return with a message. In Stockholm, the number has increased by 1,000 vehicles just in the last month and in Gothenburg it is estimated to be back on 4,000 electric scooters. As many as at the top listing last fall. At the same time, the question arises as to how the presence of the electric scooters should be regulated. 

- Obviously, it can look a bit scary. But you do have a social contract, a responsibility to place them nicely on the sidewalk somewhere, so that's what I usually do, says electricity park cyclist Fredrik Callinggård in Malmö.

Is permission required or not?

There is a debate about whether the landlords may be required to obtain permission to exhibit the electric scooters. In Malmö, the first municipality wants to make a change in the local order statute to make the issuance of each individual electric scooter compulsory. In that case, it would cost the lessors SEK 1,800 per electric scooter per year.

- Our assessment is that it is possible to regulate the statute, and we are prepared to push it very, very far to get our will through, says Anders Schönström (S), chairman of the technical committee in Malmö.

On the other hand, the Swedish Transport Agency is not as sure.

- If you take up a large part of the public space, I definitely think it is a permit. But if the individual vehicle is parked in accordance with current regulations, this may not be the case, says Pernilla Bremer at the Swedish Transport Agency.

Investigation on behalf of the government

Since the fall of 2019, the Transport Authority has been tasked by the Government to review the need for traffic safety-enhancing measures for, among other things, electric scooters.

- If these vehicles are not sustainable and traffic-safe today, what in the infrastructure can change? says Pernilla Bremer, who leads the investigation.