Tallinn expands e-scooter parking to boost safety

The Estonian capital Tallinn is set to expand the number of e-scooter parking areas in the city next year in a bid to make streets safer for pedestrians.

Following a pilot project earlier this year with e-scooter companies Bolt and Tuul that saw 126 ‘hotspot’ parking areas installed, a further expansion is expected – though exact numbers have not been finalised.

“The objective is to find solutions for ensuring pedestrian safety, as carelessly parked scooters have been a major concern for people with mobility issues, the elderly, and parents with strollers,” said Tallinn’s Deputy Mayor for Transport, Vladimir Svet.

“In collaboration with the companies, we have made preliminary conclusions and discussed potential areas for expanding this parking scheme.

“Final decisions will be made after further analysis before the start of the next season, but it is clear that the parking zone will expand somewhat.”

While the city says there “is no specific data” on how many e-scooters fit in each parking area, a spokesperson from e-scooter firm Tuul told Cities Today that each hotspot “accommodates between 10-40 e-scooters”.

Pilot

Tallin’s current e-scooter parking trial began in August 2023 with a phased approach that targeted part of the city centre exclusively.

Parking areas were indicated in apps, but this was not mandatory for e-scooter users.

In September, the city “transitioned to a more stringent phase”, requiring users to park e-scooters only in designated areas, which it says resulted in a significant improvement in parking behaviour – with over 95 percent of scooters being parked correctly.

The city said the small percentage of e-scooters that parked outside the designated spots could be attributed “to the inaccuracy of the GPS signal”.

“The feedback from companies providing the e-scooter services and our urban space monitoring indicated that [the pilot] effectively addressed the issues of pedestrian safety and improperly parked scooters,” added Svet.

“The success of the project is also reflected in the requests from residents to expand the parking area.

“The specifics [of new parking areas] including their number and locations, are still being determined, [but] we expect the expanded areas to be similar in size to the current ones, keeping the number of added spaces approximately the same as this year.

“The space used for the parking areas came both from sidewalks and car parking lots, depending on the particular location. Additionally, we’re committed to updating the existing network of parking areas. In some cases, we received feedback from the residents and some spaces will be slightly adjusted.”

Image: City of Tallinn