Sales for electric kick scooters have stalled following the publication of ‘harsh’ legislation intended to regulate the vehicles, retailers have said.

The new regulations require users to hold a valid driver’s licence and third-party insurance cover, making them equivalent with other power assisted road vehicles.

“Effectively, they’ve killed them,” Michael Boyianzis, logistics manager at Intercomp told Times of Malta.

“As an estimate, I think we’ve seen 75-80 per cent drop in sales,” he said.

“I used to import about 200 and they would have been gone in a week. Now I still have 30 left and I can’t get rid of them.”

Retailers had not been prepared for the eventuality that the scooters would require road licences and were surprised to hear, after public consultations with stakeholders, that this stipulation, along with the requirement of an insurance policy, had been proposed without changes, Mr Boyianzis added.

Dieter Cassar, an employee at Forestals, echoed these concerns and noted that from selling two to three scooters a week, sales had practically stalled.

“The stock is basically stuck at the moment. No one was prepared for so many requirements before purchasing a scooter,” Mr Cassar said.

The re-sale market has also felt the knock-on effects of the proposals, which were announced on December 27.

Anthea, who works at Go Electric Malta, an electric mobility start-up, said the decline in sales had been instantly noticeable.

Effectively, they’ve killed them

“It has been a sharp decrease, we’ve actually had to reduce our marketing,” she said.

“We were selling two scooters a week, but we’re now just down to moving one a month. The proposed legislation set us back quite a bit.”

“As long as client demand is up we’ll keep stock, but realistically we probably won’t be getting more equipment if interest is lost. We’d have to take business in another direction and only order scooters by request if sales numbers continue to not be adequate.”

'Unneccessary pressures'

Gordon Scerri, technical director at Scan, said that while the decrease in sales was currently negligible, the regulations as proposed could spell doom for the proliferation of scooters.

“It’s too early to discuss numbers but the slight decrease is negligible at this moment in time. I think many are not aware of the changes that are happening,” Mr Scerri said.

“Although I do understand that certain laws have to be introduced to ensure safety on our roads, the regulations proposed makes the use of scooters short lived.”

“Most of the scooters can achieve speeds of more than 20km/hr and the regulations say that scooters cannot be driven on roads with speeds of more than 20km/hr, which we feel should go up.

“Apart from that, the number of roads which the scooter cannot be used on is substantial and this definitely imposes unnecessary pressures for the future of micro mobility in Malta.”

Critics of the proposed regulation have described it as “silly” and “draconian” and make the case that if passed without amendments would serve to discourage scooter use as an alternative means of transport.

On behalf of the Bicycle Advocacy Group, MPs Godfrey and Marlene Farrugia have tabled a motion requesting a revision of the proposed legislation. The motion chiefly deals with concerns over the fines and penalties proposed for contraventions, some of which are on par with fines issued to contraventions committed by cars.

Speaking to Times of Malta, Dr Farrugia said that the ease of use and portability of the scooters had the potential to reduce car dependency and open up new connections to commuter’s final destinations.

“The proposed legislation does not conform to policies in place that are meant to encourage the use of non-polluting alternative transport,” Dr Farrugia said.

“While fines and penalties are integral to curbing abuse, we cannot be excessive and run counter to our aims.”

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