One of the leading mobility apps in Türkiye announced Thursday a decision regarding the implementation of a plan to build parking lots specific for scooters in coordination with Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB).
In the statement made by Martı, which operates with a fleet of dozens of thousands of e-mopeds, e-bikes and e-scooters, it was stated that the company decided to report early on the project that it had been planning for two months with the IBB's Transportation Department Head Utku Cihan.
This appears as a new development on the scooter front as this means of transportation widely used across Istanbul came to the agenda at the start of the week, following the decision of the Kadıköy Municipality mayor to take action against inappropriately parked e-scooters. Warning that citizens' safety comes first, the municipality collected a vast number of e-scooters on Monday.
Meanwhile, the statement issued by the e-scooter giant noted that the adaption of their scooters to traffic became an indispensable element of transportation in Istanbul and is regulated by the relevant articles of the Highway Traffic Law and the Municipal Revenues Law. ''Scooters, by nature and according to the law, have the right to roam freely, and can park in all areas that have not been officially closed by municipalities, provided that they pay its occupation to the municipality,'' the statement read.
In order to maximize its adaptation to urban life, the company shared with the public the outputs of the long-standing meetings with the authorized institution (IBB) and as a result of those meetings, initially 100, and then 500 "Scooter and Bicycle Parking Lots" will be built at the points to be determined by IBB.
The municipality is also set to apply a 20% discount on rides from vehicles parked in these areas and will provide support to the relevant municipalities to map the sidewalks narrower than 1.5 meters, they noted. Besides, municipalities will have to take stance on increasing bicycle and pedestrian paths and widen the sidewalks so that scooters can be used more easily. The company stated it ''will continue its struggle in cooperation with all public institutions until we complete the transportation revolution where our cities will be quiet, our pavements will be wide and our vehicles will be shared.''
E-scooters, which became an extremely popular means of transportation in many European metropolises as well, are facing problems since there are evident gaps in laws and feasible infrastructure development thus opening questions to how they will continue to operate in extremely crowded cities such as Istanbul or Paris for example.
In France, Parisians will be invited to vote on a referendum planned for April 2, on whether to allow electric scooter rental services to continue operating in the city as authorities weigh banning the controversial for-hire vehicles, the capital's mayor has said last Sunday. Calling on the issues as "extremely divisive," mayor Anne Hidalgo told the weekend edition of Le Parisien newspaper that citizens often defy bans on riding on pavements while some abandon the scooters in parks or even ''toss them into the Seine River.''
Although they are considered a fast, non-polluting alternative to cars or crowded public transport, it is clear that regulations on usage must be enacted.