The Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed that the UK government will introduce new legislation to help prevent pavement parking for rental e-scooters and e-bikes.
“We appreciate there are concerns around pavement parking, and that’s why we intend to introduce new legislation, when parliamentary time allows,” a Department for Transport spokesperson told Zag Daily.
Local authorities are currently responsible for liaising with rental e-bike and e-scooter operators to ensure pavements remain clear where possible.
But concluding that more needs to be done – including the problems caused by abandoned e-scooters and e-bikes – the new Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan has promised new laws at a Transport Select Committee to combat what is known to be a “particular bugbear” of hers.
Trevelyan also told Exeter’s Labour MP Ben Bradshaw that the regulation of e-scooters is “at the top of my list” and that she has “strong views” in favour of tackling pavement parking.
In August, Westminster City Council began seizing dockless bikes left blocking roads and pavements in the London borough. While the council encourages cycling to improve health and wellbeing and to reduce carbon emissions, it also wants dockless bike operators to take more responsibility for their infrastructure.
Westminster was seeing abandoned bikes that could create a safety risk, particularly for disabled and elderly residents.
Micromobility operators in London then responded by pledging more support for the borough.
Some of the measures operators introduced to prevent bad parking in London, include fining and banning repeat offenders of misparked vehicles and increasing foot patrol teams during busy summer periods. Lime also launched ‘Lime Parking Wardens’ across central London to reward its e-bike and e-scooter riders that parked responsibly with a free ride.
The DfT consulted on pavement parking outside of London in 2020 along with potential ways to address it. “We will publish our response in due course,” said the DfT.
