UAE Residents E-scooters
Cars stretch along the 8-kilometer waterfront neighborhood, bumper to bumper — a typical weekday evening in Abu Dhabi. On a parallel side path, scooter riders speed along the pavement past the traffic. Commonly called e-scooters, these motorized vehicles have become wildly popular in the UAE, especially in the emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai as an easy, reliable and cheap transportation option.
Wide-scale, on-demand rental e-scooter options were first launched by government initiatives in 2019. Partnerships were created with foreign e-scooter companies such as TIER Mobility, Lime and Circ. The idea took off with 154,266 users in just the first year in Abu Dhabi alone. Demand continues for more e-scooter accessible areas and more local initiatives. Last fall, rental kiosks were added in 11 new neighborhoods.
For some, the low cost is a draw. Rana Quyyum, an Abu Dhabi resident, uses his e-scooter every day to go to work. Previously he took a bus or taxi and was often late. “I have lots of benefits, I can move easily, no problem for parking, it’s easy to care for it, you can fold it anyway anytime,” he said.
Their popularity also comes because many people need to travel less than five miles for work or play, says Mahesh Mutnuru, the Director of Operations at TIER Mobility in Dubai. Additionally, as the scooters are battery operated, residents save money on fuel, charging their personal vehicles instead.
“I save on public parking costs and petrol for my car,” said Iffath Reema, an Abu Dhabi resident who recently started commuting via scooter for work and other short-distance travels.
However, with the increased use, vehicles have created hazards for pedestrians and motorists alike. E-scooter pathways often shift from pavements to roads, creating haphazard traffic situations. This has resulted in the number of e-scooter accidents rising with two deaths and 19 injuries in 2021 and another two deaths and 10 accidents through June 2022.
Especially with pedestrians, Reema says, navigating the roads can be a little scary at times. “I have to stop multiple times due to the rush of people walking at zebra crossings,” she said.
Motorists sense the danger of sharing the road as well, especially in regard to speed.
“They think they are cars and go up to 40 km/h what is their speed limit on the same road where I am going 50 km/h,” said Jana Awadalla, an NYU Abu Dhabi student. Awadalla, who has experienced this while driving both in Abu Dhabi and her home emirate of Duba,i believes that the country is not simply built for e-scooters.
To protect the riders, the UAE government mandates a helmet, a reflective vest and a mandatory light on the scooter. Recent changes include e-scooter permit requirements in Dubai and the ban on the use of e-scooters with seats this year in Abu Dhabi. Additionally, speed limits on smaller roads have been reduced in the new districts where rental scooters are introduced.
However, these guidelines are not always regularly followed, and it is difficult to track down each individual scooter user to enforce them. Mutnuru acknowledges this issue with TIER rental scooters where, although the app is designed to educate the users before riding, they cannot control the behavior of the riders.
Despite these challenges, the e-scooter trend created another subsidiary business for sales and repair shops that have sprung up in neighborhood markets.
Apart from residents, fleets of rental scooters are used by tourists too. Mutnuru adds that TIER rental scooters in downtown Dubai or Dubai Marina are popular among tourists to explore the city.
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