Seoul city is pushing a plan to forcibly tow shared e-bikes that are left unattended on sidewalks and other places that are not personal mobility (PM) designated parking zones. The move aims to secure pedestrians' right of way and safety, but some note that if towing begins in earnest when parking space is insufficient, it could increase inconvenience for users. With a precedent of the shared e-scooter business shrinking after a past towing system was implemented, tension is also rising in the PM industry.
According to Seoul city on the 7th, the city plans to submit a revision to the local government ordinance on towing of vehicles violating stopping and parking rules to the city council in November. If the local government ordinance passes, the city can tow shared e-bikes left on sidewalks, in front of subway stations, bus stops, and crosswalks, and on tactile paving, and charge the expense to the companies. The towing fee is 40,000 won per unit, and if a company does not retrieve it, a storage fee of 1,400 won per hour will be added. Accordingly, to avoid towing, users must park shared e-bikes where they do not obstruct passage or in PM-designated parking zones in Seoul.
Seoul city is said to have held a related meeting last month and conveyed this local government ordinance revision plan to PM companies. However, as companies need time to revamp return systems and secure parking zones, they have requested a grace period.
Seoul city is pushing to revise the local government ordinance because it determined that the need to strengthen management has grown as unattended shared e-bikes have surged. Shared e-bikes in Seoul increased more than 30-fold from about 1,600 in 2021 to 52,600 as of July this year. In the process, cases of e-bikes being left in the middle of sidewalks also increased. In particular, unattended shared e-bikes obstruct passage for older people and wheelchair users and raise the risk of accidents. Accordingly, Seoul city's position is to guide e-bikes, like shared e-scooters, to be parked in PM-designated parking zones.
The problem is that PM-designated parking zones are far too few compared with the scale of use. According to Smart Seoul Map, there are a total of 426 PM parking zones across Seoul. Even counting only shared e-bikes, each parking zone would have to accommodate more than 120 devices, and including e-scooters, about 160 per zone. Considering that typically only 4 to 8 devices can be parked in one zone, the current capacity is far from enough to meet demand.
Parking zones are also concentrated in certain areas. Of the total 426 zones, Gangnam District has 154 and Seocho District has 83, with more than half clustered in the two districts. In contrast, in 16 of Seoul's 25 districts, the number of parking zones does not even reach 10, and some districts have none installed. Even so, because the locations of the designated parking zones are not sufficiently communicated to users, many do not even know that parking spaces exist.
The PM industry is concerned that e-bikes could follow the path of e-scooters. After the towing system was implemented in 2021, companies reduced or halted services, and the number of e-scooters in Seoul fell about 57%, from around 43,000 in 2023 to around 18,000 at the end of last year. If e-bike operations are also scaled back due to the burden of towing, consumer inconvenience could grow.
In particular, e-bikes are used as a supplementary means of commuting and school travel for people in their 20s and 30s in areas with many hills or poor access to public transportation. According to Mobile Index, the monthly active users (MAU) of major PM apps such as GCOO, Swing, and Beam total 1.15 million, and more than half are in their 20s and 30s. Considering users of SOCAR Elecle and Kakao T Bike offered through the SOCAR and Kakao T apps, the actual scale of shared e-bike use is estimated to be larger.
A PM industry official said, "There is no disagreement that improperly parked devices must be managed and pedestrians' right of way protected," but added, "The order should be to create enough places to park first and then tow." The official continued, "Since current e-bike parking infrastructure does not keep pace with the scale of use, realistic alternatives such as expanding parking space and voluntary collection by operators should be prepared along with any expansion of towing."