Anyone who hopes to cross the city on a rented scooter around the turn of the year will probably be disappointed.
Companies in shared scooters will ‘lock’ the vehicles during New Year’s Eve to prevent destruction. Providers Felyx and Check, also active in Groningen, are also removing scooters from risk areas.
offline
Felyx shared scooters will go ‘offline’ on Saturday from 9 p.m. to Sunday at 8 a.m., which means that they can no longer be unlocked via the accompanying app. In addition, the company will remove shared scooters from certain parts of cities in the days leading up to December 31. It is also no longer possible to leave the Felyx scooters in those places.
A spokesperson explains that this decision came after consultation with municipalities and the police, who indicated at which locations they would rather not have scooters on New Year’s Eve. The company does not want to say whether and how many Felyx scooters were destroyed at the previous turn of the year.
Risk of destruction
Competitor Check scooters will no longer be available from 10 p.m. on December 31, while this is normally not the case until 1 a.m. and never in cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. Check removes scooters in some places due to the risk of destruction during the turn of the year, but not everywhere.
Shared cars
With shared cars, the precautions are less extensive. Greenwheels reports that cars are being moved from their permanent location to a ‘temporary’ parking space in some places. But the fleet remains available on New Year’s Eve. “We think it is very important to give our users the opportunity to celebrate the turn of the year with family, friends or acquaintances,” explains a spokesperson.
SHARE NOW, which mainly offers shared cars in Amsterdam, is not taking any extra precautions.
Meal deliverers
It is also important to pay attention when ordering meals. Meal delivery company Thuisbezorgd.nl no longer sends its own delivery staff after 8 p.m. for safety reasons. But the majority of the restaurants registered with the ordering site work with their own delivery staff, who may continue to work. “We therefore advise consumers to consult the site and app to see which restaurants are still open for delivery.”