Shared electric kickboards parked at children protection zones to be towed away immediately

An electric scooter left on the side of the road. Kyunghyang Newspaper photo

From now on, shared electric kickboards parked in child, elderly, and disabled protection zones in Seoul will be towed away immediately without any notice.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government released the “Basic Measures for the Management of Shared Electric Kickboards in 2024” on April 3. The main point is to include the protection areas for children, the elderly, and the disabled in the target areas where neglected electric kickboards are immediately towed away from this year. There are 1,698 protection zones for children, 185 for the elderly, and 15 for the disabled in Seoul.

Seoul will officially begin a crackdown on June 3 after a two-month grace period.

Beginning this year, events that are expected to attract large crowds will be required to have a “shared electric kickboards management plan” in their traffic safety plans in advance. In addition, if a disaster warning of level 3 (severe) is issued due to heavy rain or snowfall, kickboard rental companies will have to collect their devices from the sites where they are parked.

The citizen safety education program about electric kickboards, which targeted 2,571 people last year, will also be expanded to about 56,000 people this year. The rental companies will also be required to prepare self-rescue measures, including the introduction of a license verification system and lowering the maximum speed of their kickboards.

Shared electric kickboards have become a problem in recent years as rental services by private companies have increased like a mushroom. They are often left unattended on sidewalks, blocking pedestrian traffic and increasing the risk of accidents at the entrance of subway stations and near crosswalks. In response, Seoul has been operating its own management method through a system for reporting and towing kickboards that violate parking regulations since 2021.

Electric kickboards have been towed immediately when they were left unattended in five areas, including roadways, bicycle lanes, entrances of subway stations, within 5 meters of bus stops and taxi stands, within 3 meters of crosswalks, inside traffic islands and on Braille guiding blocks, and entrances of elevators for the elderly and people with disabilities. Last year, as many as 62,179 electric kickboards were towed away.

Yoon Jong-jang, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's urban transportation office, said, "We will do our utmost best to establish a better culture of use and encourage rental companies’ socially responsible management by implementing the highest level of towing system and campaigns within the authority given to the city amid the ongoing legislative vacuum related to electric kickboards."

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.