The infrastructure ministry is aiming to allow mini e-scooters and other electric modes of transport to use Dutch roads and cycle lanes from 2025, the Parool has reported. 

Currently, it is illegal to use one of the popular scooters, known as a step in Dutch, on public roads and users face a €380 fine if they are caught. 

But infrastructure minister Mark Harbers wants to allow vehicles that have passed safety tests onto the roads in two years’ time, the paper said. 

A spokesman for Amsterdam’s transport chief Melanie van der Horst told the paper the city and several other local authorities have written to the minister to express their concerns.

Amsterdam is not waiting to welcome the e-scooter on the city’s already overloaded cycle-ways, the spokesman is quoted as saying. The Hague and Utrecht are also ready to say no, BNR radio said.

Dutch towns and cities have so far been able to see off plans to introduce so-called shared scooter services, such as Lime and Bird, which have caused problems in cities such as Paris and Berlin because of the ban.

Last month, a large majority of Paris residents voted to ban the scooters in a city-wide referendum.