Wrongly parked scooters

Vienna terminates “Link” for breach of contract

The city's contract with the "Link" operator Superpedestrian was terminated due to "multiple serious breaches of contract".

(Bild: Wilhelm Eder)

The ranks of e-scooter rentals in Vienna are thinning out: the city has terminated the provider Superpedestrian, whose scooters operate under the "Link" label, due to breaches of contract. The main point of criticism was illegally parked scooters that were not removed, the office of City Councillor for Transport Ulli Sima (SPÖ) announced on Monday. Another provider is said to have left Vienna voluntarily.

The termination was due to "multiple serious breaches of contract", the city hall emphasized. "The company has not complied with repeated requests to fulfill the contractually stipulated requirements," explained Verena Ebenberger, head of municipal department 65 (legal traffic matters). The Superpedestrian company's stewarding service had not removed illegally parked scooters. This resulted in around 11,000 administrative fines.

In addition, the fleet size had been exceeded. In October alone, over 1,000 more vehicles than permitted were reportedly on offer in the inner districts. According to the city, there were no more available in December. This also constitutes a breach of the agreement, specifically the obligation to operate, according to the city. A warehouse was also closed due to a missing permit.

"Want to end the scooter chaos once and for all"
Ebenberger assured that it was regrettable that the cooperation had not worked better despite regular rounds of talks. The city had "naturally" complied with all agreements. For example, instead of the planned 200 fixed parking stations for e-scooters, 250 had been realized by the end of 2023. With the new regulation adopted last year, the scooters may only be parked in the designated parking spaces or in the parking lane to save space.

"After the provider leaves, we will continue to monitor and strictly control the situation, because we want to end the scooter chaos once and for all. The concessions of the terminated company will not automatically be handed over to the remaining operators," explained Ebenberger.

Superpedestrian still in talks with the city
As the "Standard" reports, Superpedestrian assumes that the last word has not yet been spoken. "We are still in talks with the city," a company representative is quoted as saying. It was confirmed that the rental devices have been off the Vienna market since December. The company had previously installed up to 3,000 e-scooters in Vienna.

According to the report, the scooter rental company "Bird" has now also turned its back on Vienna. The focus is now being placed on "offering our services in other Austrian federal states", it said.