Oslo scooter clampdown

Safety is a concern in city with most scooters

Photo: Ivan Radic/Flickr
Oslo has implemented new regulations for scooter rentals to cut down on accidents.

FRAZER NORWELL
The Local

Oslo City Council has announced a number of new rules and regulations on electric scooters in the capital following a surge in accidents, VG reported. 

Oslo has more electric scooters per inhabitant than any other city in the world, according to Richard Kongsteien, the communication director of the Agency for Urban Environment in Oslo municipality. The city has 200 scooters per 10,000 residents. Stockholm, in comparison, has 125, while Berlin, Paris, and Rome were less than 50. By the end of the summer, there will be roughly 30,000 electric scooters in Oslo available for rent.

As part of its clampdown, the city council is expected to cut the number of scooters available to rent by almost 70% by imposing a limit of 8,000. 

Rental companies will have to apply for their share of the scooters under the rule changes proposed by the Agency for Urban Environment. 

In addition to this, rental scooters will be picked up and dropped off in designated areas, similar to how city bikes in Oslo are used. 

Curfews on when users can rent scooters were announced July 13 ahead of the shake-up. From August on, rentals will be closed at night between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Some rental services had already introduced curfews on weekends, after Oslo University Hospital said that people involved in scooter accidents accounted for about 30% of all patients in the accident and emergency department at the hospital. 

The hospital claimed most patients came in during the evening on weekends, with around half of them with alcohol in their systems. 

On July 13, the city council discussed the new measures with the potential changes coming into effect from August, according to Kongsteien. 

“We have the legal authority, after legislation was passed by the Norwegian parliament in June, and we have worked quickly to change the regulations,” he told VG.

This article originally appeared in the July 23, 2021, issue of The Norwegian American. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.