Prague will ban electric scooter rentals from January 2026, with the Czech capital’s deputy mayor criticizing the tourist-friendly transport option for causing chaos on sidewalks.
If a renter just leaves a car or scooter sitting in the middle of a road or walkway, the company should pass the fine for that to them. And if no fines for that exist yet, why not start with introducing them instead of a blanket ban?
I’m all for trying that, but I think it will end with the same result.
This will basically turn these rental companies into debt-collection agencies that would have to try to collect fines from hundreds of people every day. I doubt that would be a viable business model.
Difference is nobody can easily carry your car somewhere you didnt put it or kick it over so it lays in the middle of the road. Scooter companies already make you take a photo of where and how you parked it. But nothing keeps you or anyone else from just throwing it around after you parked it
AAA did a similar service with cars in my area and someone did one with mopeds but both those seem to have died. I had to call AAA several times because people parked the cars blocking my apt building’s driveway so the inconvenient clutter issue seems to scale for some reason. The scooter/ebike service that’s survived so far in my area will unload a whole fleet in the middle of a busy sidewalk and just leave them there it really is quite badly managed. The docked (Lyft) bikes are much less of a nuisance clutter-wise but aren’t well maintained so people don’t use them much.
If someone did the exact same business model just with cars instead of e-scooters they would probably be celebrated instead of banned.
Carsharing exists
In Prague, specifically?
If you would just leave your rental cars sitting in the middle of the road you’d be fined and shut down pretty quickly.
If a renter just leaves a car or scooter sitting in the middle of a road or walkway, the company should pass the fine for that to them. And if no fines for that exist yet, why not start with introducing them instead of a blanket ban?
I’m all for trying that, but I think it will end with the same result.
This will basically turn these rental companies into debt-collection agencies that would have to try to collect fines from hundreds of people every day. I doubt that would be a viable business model.
Difference is nobody can easily carry your car somewhere you didnt put it or kick it over so it lays in the middle of the road. Scooter companies already make you take a photo of where and how you parked it. But nothing keeps you or anyone else from just throwing it around after you parked it
AAA did a similar service with cars in my area and someone did one with mopeds but both those seem to have died. I had to call AAA several times because people parked the cars blocking my apt building’s driveway so the inconvenient clutter issue seems to scale for some reason. The scooter/ebike service that’s survived so far in my area will unload a whole fleet in the middle of a busy sidewalk and just leave them there it really is quite badly managed. The docked (Lyft) bikes are much less of a nuisance clutter-wise but aren’t well maintained so people don’t use them much.
Should’ve just called a tow tbh.