Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Granelli: “Testing of electric scooters is underway but there are stringent rules for their use. We promote electric mobility"

Milan, September 25 2019 – Milan encourages electric and shared mobility and defines clear rules for the use of sharing vehicles. Today the guidelines were approved by the Council which allow us to start experimenting with the sharing of electric micromobility and continue with the sharing of free-flowing scooters and bicycles within a system of stringent rules for companies and individuals interested in provide service in the city. Among the innovations introduced for scooter sharing, the requirement of an entirely electric fleet from 1 January 2020; as regards free-standing bikes, the increase in the fleet up to 16 thousand bicycles, including pedal-assisted ones.

Sharing mobility is a consolidated reality in Milan which in recent years has favored the use of public transport and the reduction of private vehicles in favor of the quality of mobility and the environment. Vehicle sharing allows you to reduce the rate of motorisation in the city. The experiments launched some time ago with diversified fleets of cars, cargo vehicles, scooters and bicycles have given very positive results and the objective of containing polluting emissions pushes us to proceed towards innovation. New tenders will therefore be published to expand and improve the current system and start testing vehicles such as segways, hoverboards, scooters and single wheels, as defined by the Ministry of Transport last July.

“Milan is in favor of innovation, sustainability and agile and flexible mobility – declares Marco Granelli, councilor for Mobility and Public Works –. We have worked to define a framework of rules that allows us to govern the experimentation of sharing even innovative vehicles. But for electric scooters to be successful and fit seamlessly into the system, managers and users must always remember that sidewalks are for pedestrians, one-way streets must be respected and streets and public spaces belong to everyone and not to the fastest. . Milanese sharing mobility has already demonstrated its efficiency, today we are renewing existing services and making our experience available to build an increasingly widespread and integrated network of complementary transport modes in compliance with the highway code".

In order to better govern the phenomenon, the guidelines for the experimentation on electric micromobility define the maximum number of 2 thousand scooters in the city: all vehicles must be equipped with lights, identification numbers and speed limiters.
Furthermore, throughout the city scooters will be able to park exclusively in parking stalls dedicated to bicycles or on the side of the road, where it is not expressly prohibited and in any case always in accordance with the rules of the highway code. In the Cerchia dei Navigli, where there is no free parking, scooters will be able to activate and close the rental only in parking stalls through technological systems created by the management companies.

Currently in Milan there are over 32 thousand bicycle parking stalls throughout the city. In particular, in the Cerchia dei Navigli there are 4.300 stalls; outside Municipality 1, in the areas adjacent to the metro stops, there are 6.900 and along the cycle paths there are 3.350. These numbers are continuously updated for new installations underway which will also take into account the introduction of new vehicles.

As regards free-stall sharing bicycles, the new guidelines provide for another three years of experimentation and an expansion of the total fleet present in the city up to 16 thousand vehicles in total and among these there are also pedal-assisted electric bicycles.  

As regards scooters, the new tender provides that from 1 January 2020 they can only be electric (to date the existing scooter fleets number approximately 1.470 vehicles divided between 5 operators).

The public notice for sharing will have monthly time windows. They must present certification of subscription to an adequate insurance policy, guarantee the call-centre service, emergency intervention and control of the devices with staff ready to remove or move them within 24 hours of reporting in the event of poor service, abandonment or irregular parking, under penalty of removal by the Municipality with costs charged to the manager. The service must be active 365 days and available 24 hours a day. 

For each scooter or bicycle on the street, the managers will have to invest 10 euros per year in communication and information to users on the rules of use and the highway code, also in a shared form with the Administration and the other managers and 100 euros per year for each scooter. Furthermore, for each electric scooter and bicycle it will be necessary to deposit a one-off deposit (in the form of a surety) of 25 euros or 50 euros for each scooter, to guarantee any removal interventions carried out by the Administration and a contribution will have to be paid to the Municipality of 8 euros for each scooter or bicycle as a contribution to the use of public spaces. The contribution drops to 3 euros for electric bicycles in order to encourage their introduction.