Dynamic regulation of e-scooters by local public authorities
About this good practice
Shared e-scooters provide a convenient transport option for many residents, yet they have also raised several concerns. These concerns primarily revolve around safety, parking and obstruction issues, and market oversaturation. Addressing these challenges is difficult through written regulations, manual inspections or physical signage alone.
To address these issues, Bergen’s regulation policy is based on two-way data communication between operators and the City to monitor and manage the shared e-scooter fleet. All operators are required to share their data and receive data according to the MDS (Mobility Data Specification) standard, a mandate enforced by local law. Both the live data from the vehicles to the City and the data on the updated regulations from the City to the operators are managed in a dedicated software tool (“dashboard”).
The local law lets the City regulate:
- Limit the number of operators to fit the size of the market.
- Slow zones are created in pedestrian-heavy zones with a heightened risk of accidents.
- E-scooters must be parked in designated areas within the inner city, and improper parking—such as blocking sidewalks or obstructing pathways—can lead to fines. The city should provide parking areas in a user-friendly grid. The locations should be of minimal inconvenience for pedestrians.
- Bergen has set limits on the total number of shared e-scooters allowed within the city center. The number may be adjusted to parking capacity and demand.
Resources needed
The City has one person working full-time, while other people are involved to an extent when required. Total costs related to the practice, covered by operators, is estimated to 550 000 € for the current permit period (June 2024 – May 2026), of which the dashboard is about 60 000 €.
Evidence of success
Number of illegal/poor parkings have been reduced
- Reports through the public app for reporting poor parking dropped from 25 108 (June 2021 – May 2022) to 5224 (June 2022 – May 2023). The first permit period where operators were legally required to follow the regulations started June 1st, 2022.
- Fewer complaints in public media
- 95% of e-scooters in the city center are parked within a parking spot
The operators have expanded operations to suburban areas, where they replace more car trips.
Potential for learning or transfer
The maximum number of three operators has been set after consulting stakeholders on how to balance healthy competition with profitability for the operators in a city the size of Bergen.
The most important part of this good practice is that the City, by utilizing two-way data sharing to enforce the law, can dynamically adjust the regulations on a day-by-day basis based on demand and feedback.
Designated parking zones in the inner city have successfully reduced instances of scattered parking.
Unlike other cities that set a maximum vehicle cap within municipal boundaries, Bergen has implemented a tailored approach by limiting the number of e-scooters per zone: 900 in the city center and 1,500 in surrounding urban areas, with no restrictions in the outer zones at present. This has allowed the operators to expand their operations to the suburban areas of the city, where proper parking is easier, and the vehicles are more often used by commuters to connect to public transport.
Further information
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.
