TIER Mobility has invested in more than 100 parking racks for e-scooters across the Swedish capital, in a joint initiative with fellow e-scooter operator Voi Technology. The peers are investing in creating more space for shared, sustainable micro-mobility in collaboration with the City of Stockholm.

The immense popularity of e-scooters has sometimes presented challenges in cities like Stockholm. There are currently 7 operators with in total more than 20 000 vehicles in the city, hence, many streets have become flooded with shared e-scooters and it was time to take serious action.

To mitigate this challenge, more than 100 parking racks are now being distributed across Stockholm to create more order and provide space for micro-mobility, contributing to the green transition of our cities. The initiative is funded by TIER and our fellow e-scooter operator Voi and driven in close collaboration with the City of Stockholm.

The new e-scooters parking racks in the City of Stockholm will be able to hold ten e-scooters per rack, adding up to more than 1000 parking spots dedicated to e-scooters. The racks will be unbranded and open for all to use, which certainly will be one of the success factors. The goal with this pilot project is that the racks will be a start for reducing the amount of wrongly parked e-scooters, not only in Stockholm but in all cities with similar challenges. Together with the Nordic Micro Mobility Association (NMA) joint industry parking patrol in Stockholm and many other Swedish cities, we truly believe that this will contribute to a more sustainable and accessible urban environment.

“The City of Stockholm welcomes independent initiatives from e-scooter operators to improve the traffic situation in Stockholm. Parking spaces dedicated to e-scooters is an important tool in reducing the current clutter. Electric scooters have become an appreciated way for many to get around in Stockholm, and we need a range of measures to come to terms with the situation”, said Daniel Helldén, Vice Mayor of Traffic in Stockholm.

Research from the Norwegian Institute of Transport Economics, TØI, (2021) has shown that dedicated parking areas can significantly improve order with e-scooter parking in cities. Some of the key insights from the study are that unbranded parking racks placed with high density in popular areas give a better effect.

According to the Swedish Transport Agency, improved bike infrastructure is one of the most vital measures to prevent e-scooter crashes. Until today there hasn’t been any dedicated parking infrastructure for e-scooters in Stockholm like in many other cities across Europe. Meanwhile, it’s clear that dedicated parking space for shared micro mobility is a critical part of expanded bike infrastructure in line with the green transition of our cities.

“For us, it is important that we create urban environments where e-scooters become a natural part of a sustainable way of moving around the city. E-scooters are an important complement to public transport. One of our big challenges has been how the vehicles are parked by the users, it must be easy to do right. That is why it is important to find solutions that promote road safety and accessibility as quickly as possible, ”says August Svedenstedt, Regional Manager, Sweden and Denmark at TIER.

A study conducted in the autumn of 2020 showed that parking racks for e-scooters are an important piece of the puzzle for increased use of public transport. By locating places adjacent to train stations and integrating public transport with micro-mobility services, train travel increased by 35%.

This shows that parking racks also contribute with an essential function as mobility hubs for increasing the combined travelling with public transport, helping to reduce the need for cars in cities. In the longer term, it would also be beneficial for the green transition if spaces that today are occupied for car parking would be redistributed to parking for micro mobility.

The report Reversing Car Dependency from 2021, written by International Transport Forum, furthermore supports the recommendation that parking spaces for cars should be redistributed for micro-mobility, including e-scooters, e-bikes and bikes. Something that has already been done in TIER cities such as Paris and York, where a large number of parking spaces for cars have been converted into micro mobility parking.

We all need to come together and collaborate, hence other actors, municipalities and authorities are of course also welcome to participate and take responsibility for better micro mobility infrastructure in Stockholm, in other parts of Sweden and in cities in general, thus contributing to the green transition of our cities.