Filenews 7 February 2026 - by Vassos Vassiliou
Placing license plates (numbers) on electric bicycles, imposing order on scooters, without abolishing them, and controlling roads that tend to turn into speed tracks, are among the priorities of the Mayor of Nicosia, Mr. Charalambos Prountzos, and the Municipal Council of the capital.
For more effective monitoring of the city, mainly for prevention purposes, Mr. Prountzos also brings back for discussion the use of municipal cameras.
As for the roads, on which high speeds are developed (with the risk of loss of life both of the drivers themselves and of other people who, whether they are riding in these vehicles or are simply users of the road network), at this time the trend seems to have been transferred mainly to the roads of Engomi. Asked about this, the Mayor of Nicosia said that we are referring to Iroon, Griva Digeni, Lefkotheou and Lycabettus Avenues.
Mr. Prountzos clarified that similar phenomena of excessive speed development, but to a lesser extent, are also observed on Kantaras and Agiou Andreou avenues in Kaimakli, on Larnakos Avenue in Pallouriotissa.
The Mayor stated that an effort is being made to intensify policing in order to prevent accidents and especially fatal ones, in which, basically, young people are involved.
The Municipal Council also dealt with the issue of scooters and it is recalled that some people were in favour of its abolition. One of them was the former chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Transport and current Minister of Labour, Mr. Marinos Mousiouttas, who had invoked the fact that the relevant legislation was not being implemented.
The Mayor of Nicosia, with whom we contacted, said that micromobility in a city with 50,000 students and 93% of travel being carried out by private vehicle, is extremely desirable. We do not embrace the approach "when the hand hurts, we cut it off", said Mr. Prountzos, who clarified, however, that not everyone can do what they want. These vehicles can circulate in specific areas and roads, he said, adding: "Companies that have scooters must deactivate their GPS systems that are connected to the scooters, so that they are immobilized when exiting the approved route that includes roads with a speed limit of 30 kilometers. Non-compliance, i.e. not deactivating the system, must be criminalized."
Protection measures for drivers are needed, he said. Companies also need to invest in scooter stops and take care of their installation in them.
Mr. Prountzos observed that the result of not deactivating the scooters is their entry into roads with a speed limit of more than 30 kilometers, which not only hinders the smooth movement of other vehicles, as drivers complain, but at the same time endangers the users themselves as well as pedestrians.
Mr. Prountzos also raised the issue of the use of bicycles which are mainly used for food distribution (e-bikes), stating that the situation has gotten out of control. He also said that delivery companies wash their hands by referring the Municipality to the drivers as self-employed. He also observed that E-bikes do not have registration numbers, as a result of which no one is punished.
The Mayor of Nicosia also stated the following: We see means of micromobility on sidewalks, on pedestrian streets, on avenues and at the same time continuous accidents are recorded. We, as a Municipality, have taken specific decisions and call on the Parliament, the Road Safety Council and the TOM to take decisions immediately. For our part, we are moving forward with extensive extensions to bicycle lanes and 30km zones to create safe traffic networks. Demand shows the way but responsibility is needed from everyone.
"Legislative regulation is needed"
Mr. Prountzos stated that in order to place signs on distribution bikes, legislative regulation is required, which is why the Municipality will seek contacts with the Parliament in order to inform the legislative body why it considers it necessary to regulate the issue.
He further stated that the Municipality reiterated its long-standing request for the installation of fixed cameras for control and prevention purposes, but in a previous meeting it had been indicated that due to the provisions of the existing contract (which concerns the use of cameras) new ones cannot be installed.
Due to this impediment, the Municipality urgently raises the issue of amending the legislation to enable the use of the Municipality's cameras which were installed in the context of the transformation of the capital into a smart city. The goal, said Mr. Prountzos, is for these cameras to be able to function as photo-marking cameras, while they could also have other uses.
