A group of around 30 cities and municipalities have jointly issued a proposal on how to regulate e-scooter rental companies operating in Finland.
The proposal, created in cooperation with the Association of Finnish Municipalities, says that municipalities should be able to decide which companies can offer their e-scooter rental services. It also suggested that the rental companies should need permission from authorities to operate their businesses.
The proposal also suggested that municipalities should be able to regulate the number of e-scooters a company can have in circulation, as well as make rules about how the micro transportation devices should be parked.
Some European cities are increasingly regulating and even banning e-scooter rentals. Paris, for example, is outlawing rentals of the devices starting next autumn.
Turku interested
The Finnish municipalities association suggested that the proposed regulations be introduced on a trial basis.
The City of Turku is interested in trying new ways of dealing with the e-scooter industry, according to the southwest city's mobility service manager, Risto Peltonen.
He said the current arrangement between cities and micro transportation companies "has reached the end of the road."
"Turku is happy to sign up as a pilot city and test laboratory," Peltonen said in the release.
Early last month, the Ministry of Transport and Communications proposed a law limiting the legal Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of people on bikes and e-scooters to 0.5 promille (mg per ml of blood).
It also proposed laws about e-scooter parking, which would prohibit users of the devices from abandoning their rented scooters in inappropriate places.
The municipality association suggested the ministry's proposals were justifiable.
Meanwhile, in a separate announcement on Wednesday the Finnish Road Safety Council said it supports the ministry's idea of establishing a permit system for electric scooter rental firms which municipalities could use to cap the number of e-scooters on streets.
The council's managing director, Pasi Anteroinen, said a permit system is the only way to deal with what he called an excessive number of e-scooters that pile up in certain areas.
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