E-scooter rental companies must not pass on their obligations to taxpayers

Mr G., who is blind, reported in the article that he had fallen and injured himself because of an e-scooter that had been parked incorrectly on the pavement. He had filed a complaint, but was informed by the public prosecutor's office three months later that only cases involving more than two weeks' sick leave would be pursued further. In the case of another victim, Mrs K., a rental e-scooter had been placed in front of the shop's electric entrance door. This then opened and closed until it was finally broken. The damage totalled 4,000 euros. The promise to pay for the damage as a gesture of goodwill was "forgotten" after the lender withdrew from Vienna.

MA 67 (traffic area monitoring) said in a statement that the City of Vienna had already declared war on the problem in 2023 with strict rules: the number of e-scooters had fallen from around 9,000 to around 4,000; the parking spaces had been expanded to 400; and the number of complaints was also declining. Incorrectly parked rental scooters had to be removed immediately by the rental companies, otherwise they would face charges. Offences such as incorrectly parked scooters can be reported using the "Sag's Wien" mobile phone app or directly to the Vienna City Service. The e-scooter rental company in Mr P.'s complaint case wrote in the statement to the "Bürgeranwalt" programme that they had not been informed about Mr P.'s incorrectly parked e-scooter. However, the parking fines per 1,000 journeys had been significantly reduced.

"The City of Vienna is generally making a great effort in this matter. It has defined dedicated parking areas for e-scooters by address in an ordinance," says Ombudsperson Elisabeth Schwetz. However, she could not see from the City of Vienna's website that operators actually had to remove incorrectly parked e-scooters within 15 minutes. It is also not stated anywhere who actually removes the e-scooter. What happens, for example, if the City of Vienna's municipal service is not staffed outside office hours? "The Austrian Ombudsman Board is proposing a round table between the City of Vienna and the e-scooter hire companies to discuss how the latter can fulfil their obligations without passing them on to the City of Vienna and therefore to the taxpayers," demanded Ombudsperson Schwetz.

Enquiry: Ombudsman Board brought about improvements to cycle paths in Oberwart

Mr M. from Oberwart had complained that the cycle path network in his home municipality was patchy and often not well thought out, which was dangerous. Ombudsperson Schwetz first presented the case in March in the programme "Bürgeranwalt".

An expert from the Austrian Road Safety Board (KfV) confirmed in the programme at the time that many danger spots could be defused through various easy-to-implement measures, such as ground markings or changing the traffic signs from "cycle path with compulsory use" (round) to "cycle path without compulsory use" (square). The Oberwart district authority's argument that all laws had been complied with would not hold up in the event of an accident.

Ombudsperson Schwetz emphasised that cyclists must be able to rely on the fact that they are safe on the roads: "You have to be able to follow the traffic routing intuitively." A local inspection in April 2022 had already revealed that there were problems with the correct marking of cycle paths throughout Oberwart.

Following the programme, the district administration contacted the Road Safety Board with the intention of improving the cycle paths in Oberwart. In May 2025, it issued an ordinance that will indeed defuse many of the danger spots. Ombudsperson Elisabeth Schwetz also expressed her satisfaction in "Nachgefragt" that the district governor of Oberwart took the criticism of the Ombudsman Board in the programme "Bürgeranwalt" as an opportunity to tackle the cycle path problem in Oberwart and get help from the KfV: "The fact that problems with the correct marking of cycle paths in Oberwart were identified in 2022 and no measures were taken for three years afterwards was a clear maladministration. Now, however, simple measures are finally being implemented for the coming cycling season."