Prague 2 files a criminal complaint against the operators of Lime scooters for creating a menace

The Prague 2 Town Hall is filing a complaint against electric scooter operator Lime, on suspicion of the crime of creating a general menace due to violations of scooter operation conditions. The district wants the Prague City Council to cancel the scooter memorandum. The Prague 1 district also wants scooters to be better regulated.

Lime rejects the
criticism and claims it does not break any rules.

The dispute between
Prague 2 and the operator has gone on for several months, and the
district has banned scooter operation on its territory. The Town Hall
says that people on scooters ride along the sidewalk and the scooters
are left behind at inappropriate places.

The Prague 2 district has asked Lime to provide documents certifying compliance with technical requirements and conditions of operation, and statements to the police.

“Lime did not
submit any of the required documents. Instead, it arbitrarily
restricted the red zone in Prague 2 only to náměstí Míru and its
immediate surroundings, Folimanka Park, Vyšehrad Park, Havlíčkovy
sady and [rail station] Hlavní nádraží. It is therefore clear
that it will continue to operate the shared scooter service with the
‘borrow and drop’ system, without respecting the requirements of
the district,” Prague 2 Deputy Mayor Jan Korseska (ODS) said,
according to press reports.

Last year, the
Municipal Police punished 194 cyclists and scooters in Prague 2. From
the beginning of this year to September 15, some 1,048 offenses were
committed, according to the Town Hall’s figures. Riding on the
sidewalk was gone up significantly. “This is an enormous increase,
and the numbers clearly confirm what our city district has been
saying since the beginning: that e-scooters do not belong in the
city,” Korseska said.

Prague 2 has also
asked the capital to terminate the memorandum on the development of
shared bike services, concluded between the capital and Lime.
However, the repeal of the memorandum would also affect providers of
shared bikes.

Lime Operations
Manager Ondřej Široký claims the company meets the agreed
requirements in the memorandum. “Therefore, the service is limited
in Prague 2. We believe we are right with how the scooter operation
in Prague 2 is now set up. Paradoxically, we are in agreement with
Prague 2 in welcoming the clarification of this situation,” Široký
said.

Prague 1 is also
complaining about the scooters. Prague 1 Mayor Pavel Čižinský
(Praha 1 sobě), wants City Hall to consider the parked scooters a
service for business purposes, so they can be partially regulated.