Consumer rights watchdog suspends Ride e-bike rental service

RIGA - The Consumer Rights Protection Center (PTAC) has decided to suspend the e-bicycle rental service provided by Ride Mobility (Ride) after a tragic accident in which two teenage girls lost their lives while crossing rail tracks on a rented e-bike, LETA was told at the PTAC.

Upon assessing publicly available information and carrying out a review of the service, the consumer rights watchdog found that the Ride mobile app does not have effective age verification mechanisms in place to prevent minors from accessing the service. Users were able to enter their birth data freely and confirm their age of majority without any verification, the PTAC said.

On Monday, the PTAC received the company's information on a solution to the problem and will assess it, but in the meantime, Ride is banned from providing its e-bike rental service until the PTAC is ascertained how users' identity and age are verified, what methods are used, and where and how data is collected to ensure that the person is of legal age.

The service will only be able to resume once the company has provided the consumer rights authority with evidence of corrective measures and the corrective measures have been agreed with the PTAC.

As reported, the PTAC had already ordered a suspension of the Ride service after the deadly accident, but the company did not comply and continued to provide its services.

Riga Mayor Viesturs Kleinbergs (Progressives) said that the biggest objection was that Ride Mobility aggressively classified its vehicles as self-propelled bicycles rather than electric mopeds. The company's vehicles are fitted with pedals that are not actually used by the riders, but this has allowed the machines to be classified as self-propelled bicycles, which eases the requirements for their use. If they were classified as mopeds, children would not be allowed to use them and users would need to obtain a driving license.

The PTAC underlines that consumer safety is a priority, especially in cases involving children. Following the deaths of the two teenagers, the PTAC launched an inquiry into the safety of the services provided by Ride Mobility.

PTAC Director Zaiga Liepina said that the service must be stopped immediately to prevent minors from accessing it and to prevent similar cases from happening again.

The PTAC urged all residents, especially young people and their parents, to use shared vehicles responsibly and in compliance with the service providers' rules and the law. The PTAC also reminded that the use of electric scooters and other micro-mobility vehicles without proper training and age verification can pose serious risks to the user and other people.

The PTAC also called on other service providers to ensure that their age verification mechanisms are in place to prevent minors from accessing such vehicles.

LETA also reported, on Wednesday, October 1, two girls died after being hit by a train at the Imanta train station. The girls were crossing the rail tracks on an electric scooter when the crossing was closed. One train had stopped at the Imanta station and another was approaching the station from the opposite direction.

Although the train operator activated the emergency brakes and honked the train's horn to warn the girls, the fatal collision could not be averted, said Latvijas Dzelzcels (Latvian Railroads).

Riga Mayor Kleinbergs asked the PTAC to consider removing Ride Mobility's vehicles from use in the rental service.