Latvian Mobility Association asks the President of Latvia Egils Levits on behalf of all rental electric scooter operators (Bolt, Riga and Tuul) to return to the Saeima amendments to the Road Traffic Law passed on the 22nd of June, as confirmed by the association’s representatives.
The request to return law amendments to the Saeima is related to the amendments that require e-scooter operators to adopt user identity verification functionality. The deadline for adoption of this measure is the 1st of September 2023.
Representatives of the association note that
the deadline is the problem, because none of the operators can implement specific functions in such a short period of time.
This is why the association asks for a way to extend the transition period, adding that the desired deadline would be the 1st of March 2024.
The association explains that operators simply have no way to implement a user-identification function in such a short period of time. It is a complicated process – outsourcing of a specific function or in-house development, evaluation of service providers’ offers, allocation and planning of necessary resources.
In a letter to the president, the association notes that the existing deadline until the 1st of September is also considered the end of the active scooter season. This means there is no point in rushing with low-quality solutions.
Representatives of the association explain that adoption of such technologically complicated innovations can be done in the inactive season – winter, for example.
The letter also mentions that more than 250 000 Riga’s residents will have used scooter rental services this season. There are also many users in other Latvian cities.
If a low-quality component of a service is rushed, it could greatly impact the opinion of residents towards rental scooter service operators, as well as state institutions that suggest low-quality solutions and potentially highly problematic solutions that affect hundreds of thousands of residents.
This sector’s biggest players Bold, Tuul and Riga, who are also members of LMA, do not object to adopting the aforementioned measures, because it would help reduce the risks of fraud on the part of dishonest users.
On the 22nd of June Latvia’s parliament passed in the final reading amendments to the Road Traffic Law. These amendments detail increased fines and introduce new duties for e-scooter, bicycle and rickshaw users.
Amendments state that registration of electric scooters and bicycles is mandatory, and that a state registration sticker must be glued to their frame.
Registration will be mandatory starting with the 1st of January 2024. Existing vehicles have to be registered by the 31st of March 2024. Registration of bicycles is set as voluntary.
Persons of 14 years of age and older will be allowed to participate in road traffic using electric scooters as long as he or she has a bicycle or other vehicle driver’s licence.
Amendments also present bigger administrative penalties for road traffic violations committed by e-scooter and bicycle users.
Also read: Italy plans to restrict the use of electric scooters