Average age of Turkish e-scooter riders is 27

ISTANBUL

The average age of people using e-scooters in Turkey is 27, with the number of riders growing by the day, Kadir Can Abdik, the CEO of BinBin Scooters, has said.

“From 17 to 65, people [of all ages] ride e-scooters. The average age is 27 because it is a very new business sector,” Abdik of BinBin, one of the 12 companies operating in Istanbul, told state-run Anadolu Agency on Nov. 22.

The “Segway” model was the first e-scooter in the world and was brought to the global market in 2001. But their high prices made it take 16 years for e-scooters to enter the U.S. market in 2017.

“E-scooter companies have been active in Turkey for two-and-a-half years,” Abdik said.

The vehicle was first used on university campuses. “However, the pandemic changed everything. We started business in the Fatih and Üskidar districts and Istanbul Airport,” he added.

As people preferred not to use public transport due to the pandemic, the interest for e-scooters skyrocketed.

Now apart from Istanbul, people can access an e-scooter in six more provinces, İzmir, Konya, Eskişehir, Kayseri, Antalya and Samsun.

Turkish people are also preferring e-scooters because they want to get to places quicker.

A vehicle in Germany travels 26 kilometers a day on average, said Abdik. “In Turkey, this number is 12. So, people started using e-scooters as a means of transportation.”

Many institutions started allowing their workers to ride e-scooters, with the PTT, national post and telegraph directorate of the country taking the lead.

“I used to work to deliver posts. For four months I’ve been riding e-scooters. Firstly, I save time. Secondly, e-scooters are environmentally friendly,” said Ender Sakal, a mail carrier.

“Without spending time on traffic, we make deliveries with e-scooters. People react well when they see us on the vehicles,” said Münüre Arıcan, another mail carrier for the PTT.

The regulations regarding the use of e-scooters was published in the Official Gazette seven months ago.

According to official data, so far, some 253 people were fined around 157,000 Turkish Liras ($14,000) for using the electric vehicles irregularly.

Most e-scooter riders do not know their rights when they have an accident. “I use e-scooters while going to work. Motorcycle riders change lanes too much, causing us trouble,” said Rıdvan Yeşilçeçen, a e-scooter rider in Istanbul. “I never had an accident, and I don’t know what I have to do then,” he added.

“We are very sensitive on the compensation issue. When our customers make an accident, we pay all the expenses,” Abdik said about the responsibility e-scooter companies carry in the event of an accident.

According to the regulations, anyone over 15 can ride e-scooters on bicycle trails if there are any and also on urban roads where the speed limit is below 50 kilometers per hour.

Driving more than two e-scooters side by side in a lane of a road and making reckless movements are prohibited under the regulation.

Prohibitions also include parking in a way that disrupts public order, violates private property, and prevents the safe and independent movement of vehicles, pedestrians, people with disabilities or people with reduced mobility.

The regulation also prohibits more than one person from being on the e-scooter at the same time and carrying non-personal items on the vehicle.