In addition to these two measures, to organise "the
chaos" caused by scooter traffic in the city, the municipality and
operators also agreed on a maximum contingent of vehicles in circulation, which
will be 1,500 per operator in winter and which may go up to 1,750 in spring and
summer.
These measures can be adopted as of today, but operators
have 60 days to adapt, according to a protocol signed by the mayor, Carlos
Moedas (PSD), and representatives of the five operators.
Carlos Moedas stressed that this agreement solves the three
main problems detected in the use of these vehicles - parking, the excessive
number of scooters in Lisbon, and excessive speed -, pending the implementation
of a municipal regulation on scooters.
“We have 60 days to define all these parking spots, but one
thing is clear: there will be no parking on pavements or on the street as has
been the case until now. Or even the confusion outside the subway entrances,
where everything is often spread out. All this will be completely prohibited,” he
stressed.
According to the mayor, Lisbon Council will inform scooter
riders of 'hotspots' where the scooters will have to be parked. If they are not
in the hotspot, it will not be possible to complete the trip and payment will
continue to be deducted through the application.
Operators and the municipality also agreed on a reduction in
the maximum permitted speed to 20 kilometres/hour, although Carlos Moedas would
have liked to have gone “much further”.
“We weren't able to get exactly where I wanted as mayor, but
it's a first limitation. Today, scooters reach 25 or 30 kilometres / hour,
endangering the person on the scooter and other people”, he stressed.
Moedas also asked the Government to delegate powers to
municipalities so that they can be responsible for licensing scooters, which
currently does not happen.
“The Government must clearly transfer these powers to the
Mayor. It is urgent that city councils have this licensing power”, he said,
stressing that “it was one of the recurring complaints” that he had when he started
his mandate and he had “to explain to people that he does not have the power to
resolve the situation”.
The mayor also assured that the Municipal Police (PM) will
continue to monitor the misuse of these vehicles.
“People have no idea at home, but we seize scooters every
day, many hundreds every day, and then the operators have to pay fines when
they go to get them from the PM and, therefore, inspection will always be
there” and goes be strengthened, he guaranteed.
Carlos Moedas highlighted that, at the time of the first
meeting with the operators, Lisbon had more than 15,000 scooters, when a city
like Madrid, for example, has around 6,000.