The Ansan City Council in Gyeonggi Province is pushing to revise an ordinance to significantly tighten regulations, expanding the scope of enforcement from illegally abandoned personal mobility (PM) devices to electric bicycles.

The Ansan City Council announced on October 7 that it has legislatively previewed a "fully revised ordinance on the promotion of utilization safety for personal mobility devices," which was initiated by City Councilman Yeom Jung-woo.

The core of the ordinance bill is to change the name of the current ordinance—which only covers personal mobility devices—to the "Ordinance on the Promotion of Utilization Safety for Personal Mobility Means," thereby regulating general and electric bicycles as part of overall personal "mobility means."

Under the ordinance bill, the city will be able to immediately crack down on personal mobility means illegally abandoned in public spaces and charge towing fees to operators based on the "Towing Vehicle Operation Ordinance."

Previously, Ansan City designated certain areas within its jurisdiction as "immediate towing zones" starting last May, cracking down on PMs illegally abandoned in those locations and imposing a towing fee of 30,000 won per unit on operators.

However, because general and electric bicycles were excluded from enforcement under the current ordinance, critics have pointed out that there were limitations in resolving the issue of illegally abandoned personal mobility means.

Councilman Yeom said, "The issue of illegally abandoned personal mobility means is directly tied to the daily pedestrian safety of citizens," adding, "I proposed this full revision ordinance bill to include bicycles in the targets of enforcement in order to enhance the effectiveness of the 'immediate towing system'."

The proposed ordinance bill is scheduled to be deliberated during the 306th regular session running through October 30.

Meanwhile, personal mobility means supplied in Ansan total 10,965 units, including 4,020 PMs and 6,945 general and electric bicycles.

Through the immediate towing system, the city cracked down on 12 cases from May to September 27, and detected and towed 12 cases over a five-day period from September 28 to October 2, after hiring a dedicated fixed-term official to launch intensive enforcement.

Civil complaints regarding illegally abandoned personal mobility means have increased from 367 in 2023 to 872 in 2024, 1,084 last year, and 1,399 as of the end of August this year.

Ansan Mayor Lee Min-keun stated, "Indiscriminately abandoned personal mobility devices and shared electric bicycles are obstacles that threaten the pedestrian safety of citizens," and added, "We will strengthen enforcement to ensure pedestrian safety is not compromised while guaranteeing citizens' convenience of movement."
(Photo: Provided by Ansan City, Provided by Ansan City Council, Yonhap News)