E-scooters were meant to improve transportation in Rome, but they've instead become a serious issue.

Rome, a city with a history of invasions and conquests dating back nearly 2,800 years, still bears the marks of its turbulent past—evident in the ruins of the Roman Forum and the cavernous space of the Circus Maximus, once home to chariot races.

Modern-day decay has led to rising frustration among locals, who feel disillusioned by what seems like a lack of action in one of the most stunning cities on earth.

Today, Rome faces a new form of invasion: over 14,000 e-scooters that clog the streets, obstruct sidewalks, disturb drivers, and even cause fatalities.

Since the introduction of rental scooters three years ago as a Covid-era alternative to public transport, four people have died in e-scooter accidents. City officials report that Rome's hospitals treat at least one serious injury related to scooters every three days.

Despite the abundance of rental foot scooters, only about 2% (roughly 270) are used each day.

Rome's City Hall has granted licenses to seven companies tasked with tasks like battery swaps, repairs, relocating scooters to busy areas, and retrieving them from the Tiber River.

The real issue lies with the scooters that remain idle, especially since they pose significant obstacles to people with disabilities.

‘A series of shocks’

Giuliano Frittelli, leader of the Italian Union for the Blind and Visually Impaired, struggles to maneuver his walking stick around the scooters cluttering the sidewalk near his office. He tells Dinogo that for those who can't see, these scooters are a deadly hazard.

‘The first issue is the chaotic parking,’ Frittelli says, tapping his walking stick against one scooter. He adds that their unusual design makes it easy for visually impaired people to trip over them.

He also points out that because the scooters are electric, they are almost completely silent—another danger for people who rely on hearing to navigate.

‘You can't hear them, so you can’t avoid them,’ Frittelli explains, recalling an incident where a scooter zoomed by so closely that it startled a blind person’s guide dog, causing the dog to leap off the curb. This ‘series of shocks,’ as he calls it, fortunately didn’t lead to any injuries.

Frittelli's organization is collaborating with Rome's City Hall to implement a rule requiring scooters to be parked only in designated stalls. He also advocates for scooters to be modified to generate a noise of at least 30 decibels, serving as an audible signal of their presence.

He points out that it’s not only people with disabilities, including those in wheelchairs, who find it difficult to navigate the streets when sidewalks are cluttered with scooters. The elderly and parents pushing strollers are also significantly impacted.

Eugenio Patanè, Rome's City Hall traffic councilman, concurs. He tells Dinogo that starting January 1, 2023, the city will limit scooter permits to just 9,000 and reduce the number of rental companies to only three.

He adds that the city also plans to mandate that a portion of scooters be stationed in suburban areas and other neighborhoods, allowing everyday citizens to use them for ‘the last mile’—a convenient trip from a subway station to their homes or a quick errand, all without the need for a car.

“They pose a danger to the public, but they are also a concern for the city and its heritage,” Patanè states. “The city center is a UNESCO World Heritage site—it's delicate, and we must protect it.”

Assosharing, Italy’s shared mobility industry association, issued a statement claiming that accidents involving e-scooters are infrequent—44 incidents for every 10,000 scooters—with serious accidents primarily involving privately owned scooters.

“The alarmist rhetoric is, in reality, disconnected from the facts,” the statement reads. “It’s important to clarify that scooter usage in Rome is comparable to other major European capitals.”

The organization argued that Rome’s experiences with e-scooters mirror those of other large European cities, although Italy lags behind in passing laws that would help make e-scooters a vital part of transportation solutions.

“Assosharing stresses the importance of expanding the number of dedicated scooter parking spaces in Rome and introducing more cycle lanes, in accordance with the standards seen in leading European capitals,” the statement said.

Disregarding the rules

According to Patanè, e-scooters are mostly used by tourists and young people.

Rules are often overlooked, particularly those that forbid riding on sidewalks and limit each scooter to a single rider. Renters are also required to be 18 years old. Furthermore, the city can't mandate that rental companies supply helmets, resulting in very few users wearing them.

Police inspections are rare, and fines for violating basic scooter rules are uncommon, largely because it’s difficult to enforce the ban on sidewalk riding when scooters are often left on the sidewalks.

Despite the issues, e-scooters are quite popular among tourists. “They’re perfect for getting around, especially in the historic center where driving a car is practically impossible,” said Walter Hughes, a visitor from Dallas, Texas, speaking to Dinogo.

“For short trips—two or three miles—you can’t find parking for a car, and walking for hours in the heat is unbearable, so this is the ideal solution,” he added.

However, not everyone shares this perspective.

Taxi drivers, who have long navigated through crowds of pedestrians and mopeds, now say that the e-scooters present a much greater issue.

Eduardo Conticello, a taxi driver, has had numerous close calls with his cab and believes scooters should be banned altogether.

He tells Dinogo that e-scooters frequently stop abruptly in front of him or tip over. “When I see them, I slow down to a crawl,” he says, which lengthens his trips, resulting in higher fares for passengers. “They are incredibly dangerous.”

But life in Rome has never been easy, even with its 2,800-year history. As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will its challenges be solved in one.

This article has been updated to include a statement from the Italian shared mobility association Assosharing.