The Moscow City Duma struggles with the roadway on the sidewalk

Kicksharing users have already begun to tape over license plates that operators now equip rental electric scooters with, so that Moscow authorities can use cameras to monitor violators. During yesterday’s event in the Moscow City Duma, representatives of the capital’s mayor’s office assured that this will not allow users to avoid responsibility: SIM movement is also monitored using navigation tracks. In general, the opening of the kick-sharing season in Moscow began with calls to ban the movement of electric scooters on sidewalks and in parks. Moreover, the statements made in the capital’s parliament came not only from representatives of the opposition, but also from parliamentarians from United Russia.

Following the Presidential Council for Human Rights (“Kommersant” talked about this on March 28), the situation with electric scooters and other SIMs was discussed on Thursday in the Moscow City Duma. The deputies decided to analyze initiatives to improve safety that can be implemented in the near future, while the federal authorities are preparing amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses and Traffic Regulations (expected, most likely, by the end of the year).

The kick-sharing season in Moscow and the region has just started (60 thousand electric scooters are available to users as of Tuesday), but experts invited to the Moscow City Duma have already called for restrictions to be introduced. Previously, such calls were made mainly by representatives of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, but now United Russia is also insisting on this. Thus, deputy Lyudmila Stebenkova proposed limiting the movement of SIM on sidewalks and in those places where it is impossible to organize simultaneous safe proximity of pedestrians and mobile transport users. Deputy Igor Buskin, director of the Babushkinsky culture and recreation park, believes that it is necessary to introduce bans in small parks (with an area of ​​6–10 hectares) that are not suitable for skiing – there are many children and mothers with strollers there. Deputy Chairman of the Moscow City Duma Stepan Orlov proposed going further: by government decree, banning the entry of SIM into the territory of all city parks. Deputy Ekaterina Engalycheva (KPRF) insisted on introducing a moratorium on rental SIM cards until the city creates the appropriate infrastructure for this transport: “Muscovites are really afraid to walk on the sidewalks.”

It will not be possible to ban SIMs – they are already part of the transport system, answered Polina Stasiuk, head of the new mobility projects of the capital’s department of transport. Deputy head of the Moscow Data Center Magomed Kolgaev added that bans for SIM have already been introduced in a number of parks – Kuskovo, Hermitage, Krylatsky Hills. The authorities are ready to consider other territories. Mr. Kolgaev announced an increase in the length of bicycle paths this year from 512 to 601 km. At the same time, he promised, new markings will appear on wide sidewalks separating the flow of pedestrians and SIM. Part of this work will be financed by kick-sharing operators, said Georgy Zelinsky, head of government relations at Yurenta.

The quality of existing paths for mobile transport is questionable, Mikhail Denisov, a representative of the Electro.club community and head of the Individual Mobility Center, joined the discussion: “Every now and then there are hatches, the surface is wavy, and when moving it shakes so much that this can lead to loss of control.” “Try to drive along the path on Petrovsky Boulevard, on Malaya Dmitrovka yourself,” supported deputy Alexander Solovyov (A Just Russia). “It’s not safe. Half a meter was left for the scooter to move, with a granite curb on the right. If you fall, you can break your leg.” Expanding the network of bike paths does not guarantee that electric scooters will not continue to ride on the sidewalks, warned the head of the Union of Pedestrians, Vladimir Sokolov.

Moscow Data Center, we recall, agreed with kick-sharing operators to equip scooters with license plates that are visible from afar, so that the authorities could monitor violators using cameras and send information to companies to issue fines as part of the offer agreement (Whoosh, for example, has a fine of 500 to 5 thousand rubles). Meanwhile, pictures of SIM numbers taped over by users have already appeared on the Internet. This is useless, assured Polina Stasiuk: the movement of sharing SIMs is tracked using navigation tracks. There is no such control over private scooters yet, the head of the Moscow City Duma, Alexei Shaposhnikov, noted with bitterness.

Deputy Elena Kats (United Russia) asked the Department of Transport to pay attention to delivery couriers on SIM. “We want to create a unified system so that they undergo verification, obey the rules of slow zones, speed limits,” said Polina Stasiuk. “Their bicycles must also have numbers. We will transfer facts about violations to companies, and then, perhaps, the traffic police will also get involved in the administration.” “We are in dialogue with delivery companies and together we approve decisions to ensure travel safety and improve working conditions for service employees. “In the near future we will begin regulating this area,” the press service of the Moscow Department of Transport told Kommersant.

The experts’ proposals will be collected into a single resolution, said Alexey Shaposhnikov: “We will recommend that the Department of Transport, as a matter of priority, take measures aimed at maximizing the separation of the flow of cars, SIM cards, bicycles and pedestrians, as well as resolve the issue of providing parking.”

Ivan Buranov