Another way to get around: Lime's electric scooters arrive in Valencia

Electric mobility is rapidly expanding in Valencia and a new sector has entered the market: electric scooters.

Start-up Lime, has chosen to bring their electrical scooters to Valencia, after Madrid. The Lime-S dockless electric scooters (users can pick-up and leave them in no fixed points) will be available in the centre and in more peripheral areas of the city. The scooter could be an answer to urban mobility problems in Valencia, particularly for last-mile transportation. Álvaro Salvat, Lime's spokesman in Spain, reported that the use of electric scooters became very popular from the very beginning – considered smarter and funnier especially by young people - in contrast to the bike rental systems, which were showing lower levels of use.

The functioning of scooters is simple and user-friendly. People only need to download an app on their smartphones and scan the QR code to unlock the scooter and start to driving it, similar to other free-floating bike schemes. The start-up has developed a light and robust electric scooter in partnership with Segway. It is equipped with two 8-inch wheels, brakes and front and rear lights, a central headlight, a brake lever and a throttle lever.

According to the traffic rules for this kind of vehicles in the city, the speed of Lime-S is limited to 24 km/h, which with a full load gives the scooter an autonomy for a 50 km distance. A series of tutorials are played every time users access the app to remind Lime-S users how to use the scooter and the safety precautions they should take.

The growth of scooter operators in cities across Europe may unltimately see the same concerns about dockless bikes in other cities across the world: how to safely share city streets and avoid sidewalk clutter.

Source: Story first published in August by El Mundo