GAS stations in Shanghai will stop selling natural gas to scooters from Sunday.

The move, announced by the Shanghai Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Management yesterday, is aimed at removing the liquefied petroleum gas-powered scooters from city’s roads.

In 2014, gas two-wheelers were banned and owners ordered to replace them with e-bikes.

Authorities also stopped issuing plates for LPG scooters at the same time.

Traffic authorities said yesterday they will seize the scooters if they were spotted on the road and their owners would be fined.

The LPG scooters are deemed a safety hazard now after their sales were banned in 2014.

“Some scooters have gas leakage problems,” a traffic officer said. “They have caused serious accidents in gas stations.”

Shanghai Daily visited a gas station at Zhennan Road in Putuo District where a staff member said they had stopped selling gas to gas scooters two years ago.

The staff member named Huang said there were five gas stations run by Shanghai Enn Energy in the city, and except for one on Hutai Road in Jing’an District, all others had stopped selling gas to scooters.

In a statement posted on Enn Energy’s WeChat account, the company said people with LPG scooters can visit their gas stations before July 31 and surrender them for 200 yuan (US$32).

Huang said despite the 2014 regulation urging LPG scooter owners to shift to electric bikes, majority of them were reluctant to make the change.

An LPG scooter user who identified himself as Yu claimed there were about 280,000 users of the bike in the city but the Shanghai Transport Commission said it was difficult to know the exact figure.

Yu admitted his scooter was older than eight years. “I’m not sure what to do. I don’t know much about the regulations.”