Although all these electric scooters in our cities are someone’s business – that of those companies putting them out there for rent – in the end they are really nobody’s business.
They belong to no one. It’s not only visible in the way they are treated while being used, but especially after being used.
When they were officially allowed onto German city streets in 2019 some politicians prematurely heralded them as the game changer of urban mobility. To say their entrance into public urban spaces has been a challenge might be a severe understatement. The term disruption actually does fit them better. Obstacles, while they’re moving. But even more so when they are not.
Dropped off in large quantities by numerous companies, electric scooters are scattered everywhere, not only in city centers but all over the outskirts as well. Their appearance has severely altered traffic, be it on sidewalks, bike paths, streets and even in public parks. Often (forbiddingly) double-teamed, they are mostly ridden by teenagers and young male adults. And not to forget hordes of tourists, wanting to move quickly from A to B to C to D, to fit as much distance and content-recording as possible into the busy schedule of their weekend trip to some European city. All of them are more than happy to use cheap and care-free mobility, enjoying the freedom to leave these scooters basically anywhere once they don’t need them anymore.
This series is my photographic everyday observation on this subject.
