Citizens push off scooters – Kommersant

More than a third of Russian citizens living in 366 settlements are in favor of a ban on electric scooter rental services available in their cities. This is evidenced by the results of a survey portal SuperJob. Most supporters of the ban on kicksharing are among Russians aged 35 to 44 and with an income of 50,000 to 80,000 rubles. Residents of Ufa and St. Petersburg are the most intolerant of electric scooters – the share of opponents of scooter rental reaches 44% and 42% there.

The survey of the SuperJob portal was conducted from April 4 to April 28, 2023, 1.6 thousand people over 18 participated in it. The researchers were interested in the opinion of residents of 366 settlements that have electric scooter rental services: should they be banned “in your locality”? The question contained a reference to the experience of Paris, where from September 1 all contracts with kicksharing companies will be terminated.

37% of Russian respondents felt that kicksharing services should indeed be banned. Among the reasons, the respondents mentioned the lack of a driving culture, non-compliance with the speed limit and the danger to pedestrians and drivers posed by users of kicksharing services. More often than others, residents aged 35–44 (41%) and with an income of 50,000 to 80,000 rubles are in favor of banning services. per month (43%). Among men and women, the number of supporters of service restrictions is approximately the same.

34% of respondents were against bans on kicksharing services; 29% of respondents found it difficult to answer. At the same time, the opponents of restrictions are most among Russians under 34 years old (46%) and among citizens with incomes over 80 thousand rubles. (37%). Most often, such respondents believe that it is not worth completely banning services, but traffic rules should be adjusted, SuperJob explains.

Note that the traffic rules with rules for users of electric scooters came into force on March 1. Now such technical devices are allocated to a new category of “means of individual mobility” (previously, their users were considered pedestrians). For users, prohibition signs have been introduced, restrictions on leaving the roadway, and a speed limit of 25 km / h has been set, which also applies on sidewalks, where electric scooters are allowed to travel in certain cases. The Ministry of Transport reported that the new traffic rules will be adjusted after an analysis of “law enforcement practice.” Alexei Mityaev, deputy head of the transport department, said that a situational control center for SIM was created in Moscow this season.

The largest number of supporters of the ban on kicksharing services, judging by the results of the survey, live in Ufa (44%) and St. Petersburg (42%). Recall that in 2021, a series of accidents took place in St. Petersburg, when users of rented scooters knocked down children and fled the scene (in one case, a 36-year-old resident drowned an electric scooter in a river and then dyed his hair to disguise). After that, several specialized services temporarily stopped working, and searches were carried out in their offices. In Omsk and Novosibirsk, 40% of respondents supported a complete ban on electric scooter rental services, and 39% in Tver.

Alexander Voronov