Haarlem will share more. At least, if it is up to the municipality, sharing, especially the car, should take off. But more shared scooters are not allowed in the city, because it is unclear whether they reduce the use of the car. And that’s what Haarlem is all about. Fewer cars means more space for homes and greenery, is the idea.
Patronizing, freedom of choice and nuisance from scooters parked here and there remain caveats. But a large majority of the city council is strongly in favor of shared mobility. It will cost the municipality a quarter of a million a year for three years to ensure that communication in this area runs smoothly.
Five fewer cars per shared car
In particular, it will become easier for market parties to offer shared cars. The municipality will also encourage residents not to buy a second car, but rather to share. Haarlem hopes to eventually have five fewer private cars in the city per shared car.
For this, it will be possible, among other things, that in areas where a parking space has to be paid for, the permit is valid in several districts. Applications for charging stations for shared electric cars will also be given priority and hubs for shared cars will be set up in neighbourhoods, at public transport hubs and P+R locations.
Ceiling
Haarlem will not allow more shared scooters, as Amsterdam decided this week. Alderman Bas van Leeuwen thinks the city is much more compact and it is doable by bicycle to bridge the distances. “If you are a bit cunning you can be in Schalkwijk from the town hall in ten minutes and in five minutes on the Delftplein in Haarlem-Noord.” He also wants to maintain the permit ceiling of 200 shared scooters to keep the nuisance within limits.
Shortly after the introduction of shared scooters in Haarlem, the shared scooters were carelessly parked on sidewalks. It became true obstacles for pedestrians and the disabled. For that reason Haarlem has in the General Local Bye-Law lines drawn up on the use of the shared scooter.
Spin scooters
Haarlem still wants to let the shared scooters go and stand as freely as possible, but if there are too many nuisance reports, hubs can be created. These are sections for scooters and bicycles, outside which it is forbidden to leave the scooters behind.
Councilor Frank Visser (CU) proposed to focus even more clearly on the prevention of what he calls ‘dwarrelscooters’. He wants so-called ‘geofenching’ to be used, which would give such a subject virtual boundaries. Outside of that, the app to rent and sign out the shared scooter no longer works. That proposal did not get enough support. “We think ‘free-floating’ is better for the convenience of using shared scooters,” said GroenLinks council member Sacha Schneiders.
Current state of affairs:
Haarlem is the sixth largest city in the Netherlands when it comes to the number of shared cars per 100,000 inhabitants. Offering your car privately for sharing via a platform such as SnappCar is especially popular here. There are also a few residents’ initiatives, where a shared car has been jointly purchased. Commercial providers such as GreenWheels and MyWheels would like to expand their range of currently 126 cars, especially now that there is talk of expanding the area where paid parking should apply.
There are hardly any shared bicycles in Haarlem and a trial with a shared cargo bike was also unsuccessful. There are 200 shared scooters in the city, from providers Felyx and Go Sharing. 600 journeys are made on it per day. It is unclear whether these shared scooters are used to replace the car or the bicycle and public transport.