Prague to ban e-scooters after residents complain of chaos on pavements

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Prague will ban electric scooter rentals from January 2026, with a deputy mayor of the Czech capital criticising them for causing chaos on pavements.

Council members on Monday approved regulatory changes concerning shared transport in the city, where nearly 1.4 million people live and where the cobblestoned streets and history attracted more than 8 million tourists in 2024.

While bikes – both pedal and electric – face new rules on where they can be parked, e-scooters are not addressed in the regulations, in effect stopping their use in the city.

“The end of electric scooters approved!”, the national Pirate party chair, Zdeněk Hřib, who is a deputy mayor in charge of transport at Prague’s city hall, said on X on Monday.

“We are introducing clear rules that will clear public space from uncontrolled scooter traffic, which was often used in the city centre more as a tourist attraction than a means of transport and caused chaos on and in pedestrian zones.”

Prague is one of many popular European tourist destinations to have cracked down on e-scooters in recent years. Cities have imposed strict safety rules, such as requiring helmets and insurance in Italian cities, or banned rentals altogether, as in Paris and Madrid. Finland has barred under-15s from using them.

Prague officials said they had acted on complaints from residents over the dangers of the scooters whizzing by on pavements or in parks, or blocking pavements or street parking spots when not in use.

The city, which wants to promote wider use of shared bike services, said e-scooters had higher accident rates than bikes.

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Lime, one of the biggest operators of shared e-scooters in the city, said it regretted the decision. In cities where there was “constructive dialogue” with operators, “scooters can work very well and serve citizens”, the Czech news agency CTK quoted Lime’s country director, Václav Petr, as saying.

Lime did not immediately reply to further questions.

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