Rome suspends micromobility services after rule breaches

The City of Rome has suspended the use of Lime e-scooters and e-bikes and Dott e-bikes on its streets after the companies failed to comply with guidelines around the distribution of vehicles.

According to the rules established by the council’s micromobility tender, operators must distribute vehicles across the city and meet “density thresholds”, including mandatory numbers in the suburbs.

“The suspension is for seven days and does not provide for the removal of the vehicles from the territory, but only their decommissioning to prevent the rental of the vehicles,” a spokesperson from the City of Rome told Cities Today.

“A possible next suspension, however, would result in the vehicles being put out of service for 30 days with the vehicles being removed from the territory.”

Rome monitors the movement of each vehicle with attached geolocators which can verify whether the established rules are respected.

Penalties imposed

Lime e-scooters across the city were suspended from 1-7 June, while its bike-sharing service has been paused from 8-14 June.

Dott will see its e-bikes suspended from 15-21 June.

The city says the vehicles will not be physically removed from the streets, but will be “decommissioned to prevent their rental”.

Both operators will also face fines, with Lime required to pay approximately €80,000 (US$85,849) and Dott €15,000.

Responding to the suspension, a Lime spokesperson told Cities Today: “Lime is complying with the City of Rome’s recent decision to partially suspend e-scooter and e-bike service for two weeks. Unfortunately, this decision ultimately impacts our users – often residents who use the service on a daily basis. These riders use Lime either as an alternative to private vehicles or to supplement public transit, relying on us to get to work, school and move every day around the city.

“Lime has operated in Rome since 2020 and has worked collaboratively with the municipality for years. We always place communication and awareness campaigns at the core of our priorities, so that all the users respect the rules of parking and safety.”

A spokesperson from Dott said: “It’s essential to distinguish between e-scooters and e-bikes, two fundamentally different services with very different usage data. In fact, penalties for bike sharing do not surprise us at all, with both operators being suspended. Also in the past, all companies operating bikes in Rome have encountered issues.

“Over 30 percent of the bikes are used less than once every two days, especially in peripheral areas, making the bike-sharing service financially unsustainable in this context. We have reported to the [city] administration the difficulties due to the low volume of usage, despite the disproportionate logistical costs and the high number of vehicles required.

“Conversely, for the scooter service, the higher usage rates make it possible to sustain operational costs. It is no coincidence that two of the three scooters operators are able to meet the required standards (and Dott is among them), demonstrating the feasibility of complying with the rules, while working with the [city] administration to improve them in the future.”

Image: City of Rome