Chaos in Laim: E-scooters drive away craftsmen and residents!

Chaos in Laim: E-scooters drive away craftsmen and residents!

Munich is facing a major challenge in dealing with e-scooters, which repeatedly endanger the safety and accessibility of residents. In Laim, the mobility department has now announced measures to deal with the situation. The renovation at Gotthardstrasse 59 is intended to relieve the fire department access, as e-scooters and rental bikes have been regularly blocking it since February and affecting residents. An incident on October 16th, in which a tradeswoman had to put away the scooters herself in order to gain access with her van, once again highlighted the problem. “It is unacceptable that we as residents constantly encounter such situations,” said Marion Praxl, an affected resident.

On October 1st, a meeting took place between the mobility department and representatives of the district committee to discuss the untenable conditions. The planned renovation involves moving the scooter parking lot to the east by two parking spaces and increasing the area. An exact start date for the work is still pending, but the construction department is expected to be commissioned with implementation next week. Despite requests to providers to clear away the e-scooters regularly, there continue to be “selective accumulations” due to the high demand for these vehicles.

Dangers for visually impaired people

But it's not just in Laim that there are problems with e-scooters. The Bavarian Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired (BBSB) also warns of the dangers posed by e-scooters that are parked in a disorderly manner. Bernhard Claus, who is responsible for accessibility, reports on a personal incident in which he injured himself on an e-scooter. “E-scooters pose a serious danger, especially for visually impaired people, who often have difficulty recognizing obstacles in time,” explains Claus. Despite city efforts to regulate the situation, the situation has gotten worse. There are currently almost 20,000 e-scooters on the road in Munich.

The city has tried to counteract this with official parking spaces and limiting the number of providers, but the problems remain. Only 39 official parking spaces are permitted in the Altstadtring, while 340 parking spaces are set up in the Middle Ring. A total of 675 are planned. Particular attention is paid to the safe return of e-scooters: users must upload a photo of the vehicle to prove that they have parked it properly. AI technology is supposed to monitor this return, but it is not yet working quite optimally.

Regulation and user behavior

There have already been several accidents near homes and workshops for the blind and visually impaired, and residents have written to providers to encourage a ban on parking on certain paths. The federal government is also planning to issue a general ban on parking rental scooters on sidewalks, although private scooters and bicycles can still be parked there. Cities like Paris and Madrid have banned e-scooters from public spaces, which is not so easy to implement in Munich due to the legal framework.

The providers themselves are divided in their opinion on regulation: Dott, for example, describes a ban on parking on sidewalks as critical and advocates for targeted parking zones. The mobility department, on the other hand, sees e-scooters as a useful addition to local public transport and a contribution to reducing car traffic. However, doubts about their benefit for climate protection are becoming ever louder, not least among people with limited mobility who can hardly benefit from the scooters.

It remains to be seen whether the announced measures in Laim will bring a noticeable improvement. While residents are looking for solutions, operators and the city administration in particular must meet the current challenges to ensure safety and accessibility in Munich. The issue remains hot on the table as many citizens hope that the renovation on Gotthardstrasse will be the start of positive changes.