E-scooters conquer but divide Rome

Zippy and efficient - electric scooters are now commonplace on the ancient cobbled streets of Rome as people continue to avoid public transport.

In a bid to encourage environmentally-friendly "micromobility," authorities have licensed eight companies, including Lime and Bird, to operate about 6,000 E-scooters across the city and thousands more are on the way.

The law says the scooters can't be used on sidewalks, can't go faster than 15 miles per hour on streets or more than four miles an hour in large pedestrian zones.

But lax enforcement of rules has led to a growing number of complaints.

"You always see them out of the corner of your eye because they race out of every direction, often going the wrong way. Does anyone check that they've got a driving license? Because sometimes they put their own lives at risk and as a consequence also us. So far luckily I haven't been involved in any accidents, but really - they violate every basic road and traffic regulation."

Bird, which operates around 2,500 scooters in Rome, has staff who move badly parked vehicles and the company allows users to report misconduct and abuses.

Cristina Donofrio is Bird's General Manager in Italy.

''we work very closely with the city to help us with fining users that do go on sidewalks, that ride in two, or park scooters where they shouldn't be parked. In addition to that we have a great feature in our app, it's called 'community mode', where anyone in the city can download the Bird app and they can basically flag to us if a scooter is either parked badly or an individual is riding incorrectly and we can act upon that in less than 15 minutes with one of our 'Bird watchers'."

E-scooters have got a mixed reception on European streets.

They were banned in Madrid in 2018 and users can attract heavy fines in Paris and London if they ride in restricted areas.