Madrid orders removal of e-scooters within 72 hours

Electric scooters are given 72 hours to take them off the streets of Madrid amid claims they are a public nuisance and just days after a 90-year-old woman pedestrian walking with a Zimmerframe in a zone reserved for pedestrians, was run-over and killed in a collision

The council told the three main e-scooter companies operating in Madrid – Lime, Wind and VOI – that their apps do not abide by rules that restrict the vehicles to bicycle lanes and single-lane streets where the speed limit is 30kmh.

“They were given a deadline and told that to continue they had to fulfil a series of conditions, including avoiding agglomerations and that the start and end of rides must take place in only permitted areas,” said Ines Sabanes Madrid City environment and mobility coordinator.

Madrid’s ban is in line with the two-wheeled devices that seem them cleared from parts of Los Angeles and other US cities.

Madrid police have reported 22 accidents involving e-scooters since the start of the summer including 8 where pedestrians were run-over.