Seoul City to Allow E-scooter Sharing Companies to Retrieve Illegally Parked E-scooters Within 60 Minutes

An official of Songpa Ward removes an illegally parked electric scooter in this file photo. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, March 23 (Korea Bizwire) — The Seoul city government will provide a 60-minute standby time before towing away illegally parked shared electric scooters.

The city announced a new towing policy for e-scooters on Tuesday.

The number of reports on illegal parked e-scooters in the city reached 1,242 cases last July when the towing policy was introduced. As of this February, there were only 579 cases.

Some areas, however, have been struggling with immediate towing due to ambiguous standards, seeing a number of e-scooters towed unnecessarily.

E-scooter sharing companies have also been complaining about excessive towing fees. The towing fee is 40,000 (US$32.92) for each e-scooter, and is charged to the e-scooter sharing company.

Now, the new policy will ban e-scooters from being returned at certain designated locations like subway entrances, bus stops and crosswalks.

When there are reports about an illegally parked e-scooter, it will not be towed for the next 60 minutes, even if it qualifies for immediate towing.

The e-scooter sharing company may retrieve the e-scooter within 60 minutes.

The company will also implement a four-strike rule for illegal parkers. After four violations, the user’s account will be suspended.

The city also plans to set up some 360 parking spaces for e-scooters by the end of this year on pedestrian roads that are more than two meters wide or in-between street trees.

H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)