City officials are planning to ban e-scooters from pavements, pedestrian bridges and roads, after two students were killed in an accident on Sunday.

Regulations being drafted by the city administration would restrict their use to bicycle lanes only, bringing Jakarta in line with other cities that have also banned such devices in pedestrian spaces.

Jakarta has about 63km of bike lanes today and plans to have a total of 200km by end-2020.

Safety issues surrounding e-scooters have come to the fore in the Indonesian capital, where it is common to see up to three people on one device, and even primary school pupils riding them.

In the early hours of Nov 10, two high school students were killed and one injured after they were hit by a sedan from behind.

They were riding GrabWheels shared e-scooters in a convoy outside the Gelora Bung Karno sports complex in central Jakarta.

Jakarta Transportation Agency head Syafrin Liputo told The Straits Times yesterday that the regulations, slated to be out next month, will also introduce other restrictions.

“They will include speed limit, one-rider maximum, a minimum age,” he said, without further elaboration.

It is not just children and teenagers who pay scant regard to safety. A woman who looked to be in her 30s was spotted by The Straits Times earlier this week with a rattan chair attached to her e-scooter deck, while cruising a neighbourhood road in South Jakarta.

Nor is it uncommon to see e-scooters on busy main roads.

High school student Ozriel Rahmandika, 16, was riding his GrabWheels e-scooter with classmate Kevin Arya as his passenger on Jalan Thamrin, a major thoroughfare in Jakarta.

When asked about the risks of two people riding one e-scooter, Kevin said he had run out of credit on his Grab mobile app.

“As long as we are more cautious when riding, we should be fine. We are riding just for fun,” he said, claiming to be undeterred by the news of the two riders’ death just a few kilometres away.

The regulations will apply to both privately owned e-scooters as well as those rented out by GrabWheels, operated in Jakarta by ride-hailing company Grab Indonesia since May this year.

More than 90 per cent of e-scooters seen on Jakarta’s roads belong to GrabWheels.

They are not used for food delivery, a market predominantly controlled by motorcycles.

Jakarta resident Ahmad Syafrudin told The Straits Times that e-scooters have compromised the comfort and safety of pedestrians like himself on the city’s footpaths and pedestrian bridges.

“E-scooters should be used only in restricted areas and treated strictly as recreational,” said Mr Ahmad, who is also a co-founder of Indonesia’s Pedestrian Coalition.

Currently, there is no law specifically regulating the use of e-scooters in any of Indonesia’s cities.

In Singapore, e-scooters have a speed limit of 25kmh and are not allowed on footpaths.

Riders can use them only on park connectors and cycling paths, or face fines and jail.

France and Britain apply the same restrictions of not allowing e-scooters in pedestrian spaces.

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