Photo/Illutration Luup Inc.’s new motorized scooters, which can switch between maximum speeds of 20 kph and 6 kph, are shown with their green maximum speed indicators turned on in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward on June 7. (Hidemasa Yoshizawa)

The largest electric scooter rental agency in Japan will heighten background checks on customers and introduce a demerit system to promote safety after regulations for the vehicles are eased in July.

Standup e-scooters are regarded as a type of 50cc motorcycle. But on July 1, e-scooters will fall into the same category as bicycles, meaning they can be operated without a driver’s license.

Helmets will no longer be mandatory for e-scooter riders, but the protective gear is recommended.
Tokyo-based Luup Inc. has increased its fleet of rental e-scooters around the country in anticipation of heightened demand.

Daiki Okai, 29, president of Luup, also told The Asahi Shimbun that a rating system will be used to prevent reckless drivers from renting the motorized scooters.

Demerit points will be allocated to the customers’ accounts for traffic breaches and other illicit acts. Their accounts will be frozen when the points reach a certain level.

Okai said security personnel could show up unannounced at scooter lease stations at night to talk to customers and ensure no one drives under the influence of alcohol.

Another “big challenge” cited by Okai concerns children under 16 years old, who are prohibited from riding two-wheel standup scooters mounted with electric motors under the revised Road Traffic Law.

The company will thoroughly check My Number ID cards and other identification certificates to prevent underage people from using the e-scooters, said Okai, who is also chairman of an industry association called the micromobility promotion council.

Luup has had talks with relevant government ministries and agencies as well as police on a new safety framework.

According to Okai, Luup has improved the content of its test for e-scooter drivers in line with the new legislation. Only people who correctly answer all questions about traffic rules in the exam on the smartphone app will be allowed to use the rental program.

Luup started its standing-type scooter lease service in April 2021.

Its rental “ports” have been set up at more than 3,000 locations in urban areas, with 5,000 total vehicles available.

The number of app downloads for the rental service topped 1 million earlier this year, the company said.

But the spread of e-scooters has created additional problems around the nation.

According to the National Police Agency, officers issued 3,089 warnings or tickets to e-scooter riders between September 2021 and December 2022.

In the three years through 2022, 74 accidents involving e-scooters were reported. In September 2022, a man driving a Luup rental scooter while drunk fell down and died in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward.

Okai acknowledged that several drunken driving cases occur each month, but he stressed, “There have been no serious injuries, other than the one in Chuo Ward, among accidents under our rental service.”

Luup deletes the accounts of drivers who have committed drunken driving and other serious traffic infringements.

The company rolled out a new e-scooter model with a switchable maximum speed of either 20 kph or 6 kph.

E-scooters with a top speed of 20 kph can be driven on the left side of roadways or in bicycle lanes under amended safety standards. Those that run 6 kph or slower can operate even on walkways.

The new e-scooter’s green lamp remains lit on roadways, and it flashes on footways in accordance with security criteria.

Hundreds of new units will be available for rent on July 1.

Manufacturers have a grace period until December 2024 to equip the green lights and other safety functions on their e-scooters. Luup is expected to retrofit existing scooters in phases.

(This article was written by Senior Staff Writer Shinpachi Yoshida and Hidemasa Yoshizawa.)

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