Amsterdam is getting ready for another try at accommodating bike- and scooter-sharing schemes, three years after running them off the road because they resulted in the city being littered with abandoned bikes.
This time, the city has worked out contracts with six bike-share operators and two scooter operators, limiting pickup points for each (and hopefully dropoff points as well) and giving each a limited number of permits. There will be about 1,400 bikes in the scheme; the two scooter-operators will be allowed 350 each.
According to a city statement, “‘Amsterdam and the providers of shared bikes and mopeds are working closely to avoid nuisance in public spaces. About three years ago, shared bikes were allowed in the city and in no time, Amsterdam was full of them while the aim was actually to gain space!”
But the return does not come without questions. Armin Taheri, the Youth Bicycle Mayor of the city (yes, there’s an adult one as well) has asked that the mopeds be kept off the city’s bicycle paths to keep them safe for young riders; they are already banned in central areas. And, a number of groups have asked how the provided helmets and the vehicles themselves will be kept sanitized during the coronavirus epidemic.
