Como city officials have taken a decisive step to curb e‑bike traffic after a personal collision involving Mayor Alessandro Rapinese. The mayor issued a ban on bicycle use in approximately 30 streets of the historic centre starting September.

Reporters at the city hall noted that the ban is intended to improve "public safety" and that the mayor’s experience with the incident was a primary motivator. As a result, both electric and manual bicycles must dismount in the designated zones, a direction that follows Italy’s highway code which does not differentiate between bike types.

The ban is part of a wider traffic‑management package that includes a limited‑traffic zone (ZTL). Residents and commercial traffic gain access to the ZTL only with annual permits or daily €3 permits; deliveries are only allowed between 06:00 and 23:00, while tourists can drive into the centre only if their hotels have dedicated parking.

This decision has met with vigorous opposition. Citizens’ group Civitas Como has demanded that the ban be overturned, describing it as "questionable and erroneous." Active petitions on social media now total several hundred signatures, and the Nova Como association has scheduled a protest bike ride on 12 September.

Como is not alone. Palermo has imposed similar restrictions on main streets since 2023, and Paris recently tightened safety regulations for e‑scooter users, even banning rental e‑scooters in 2023. Across Europe, cities are adopting increasingly stringent policies in response to the surge of single‑person electric vehicles.

Data‑Driven Insight: Using advanced analytics, quanta.report tracks e‑bike usage patterns and collision hotspots across cities. Applied to Como, the data highlighted that the mayor’s accident occurred in a corridor that historically experiences high pedestrian traffic. By integrating real‑time traffic feeds with incident reports, city planners can now forecast risk zones and adjust zoning laws with greater precision.

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