Madrid bans rental e-scooters over parking and safety concerns

Madrid is set to ban rental e-scooters after the city council said the scheme’s three operators had failed to implement parking controls and data-sharing requirements set out in the tender process.

The licences of the operators – Lime, Dott and Tier – will be cancelled from October, with the city’s mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida adding there were no plans to grant new licences to any other firms.

“The market was found to be incapable of meeting the requirements set by the mayor’s office to ensure the highest level of safety for citizens,” the mayor said in a statement.

The companies will have 20 days to lodge an appeal.

Background

Madrid is the third major city globally to announce a ban on rental e-scooters, following Paris and Melbourne.

In May 2023, the Spanish capital introduced a new model to regulate the rental e-scooter market, authorising three firms – Dott, Tier (which acquired Dott in March 2024 ) and Lime – to each operate 2,000 e-scooters.

Prior to this, there were approximately 18 companies operating scooters across the city.

The tender process was aimed at ensuring greater safety and order on Madrid’s streets.

As part of the contract the three operators were required to give the council access to their data and were ordered to implement technology that obliged customers to leave e-scooters in authorised areas and prevented them from hiring scooters in pedestrian-only streets or near historic parks.

“Municipal technicians have no evidence that this technology has been implemented [by the companies] and, as they have been able to verify, [the e-scooters] circulate or park in prohibited places,” a statement from the city council said.

A source at Madrid City Council told Cities Today that the main problem was related to poorly parked e-scooters however, with a high number of complaints from residents over recent months.

They added that while the overall number of problems had reduced since the introduction of the tender, “accidents were still happening”.

‘Surprise’

In a statement provided to Cities Today, Lime said it was “surprised” at the decision, adding it only became aware of the ban through media reports.

“[Lime] deeply regrets that the city council has not taken into account the vision of the operating companies at any time in this process, nor of the citizens who use these scooters.

“The council’s unilateral decision has been made without any prior notice [and] this decision
represents an unexpected and harmful change not only for the company’s users, but for the city of Madrid as a whole, which will no longer have an accessible and sustainable micromobility service to move around the city.”

The firm said it had “urgently requested” a meeting with the council and the mayor “to obtain clarity on this decision”.

Tier-Dott declined to comment on the council’s decision, saying they were “still assessing the situation”.

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