Paris says no to rental scooters.
It is the result of the consultative referendum wanted by the mayor of the city, Anne Hidalgo, to find out the opinion of its citizens on the use of two-wheeled vehicles: "Are you for or against self-service scooters in Paris?" the voting question. The referendum did not concern private scooters but only those with free parking.
And it was a I plebiscite the victory of the No. About the 90% of Parisians voted against rental scooters. Mayor Hidalgo had already declared that even if only consultative, she is ready to follow the popular will in a binding way. Now, if the Municipality will follow the voting instructions, the free rental of “trottinettes” (so called in France) will be banned from September.
However, it should be noted that thevoter turnout was very low with less than 8% of those eligible. Of the 1,3 million people eligible to go to the polls, just over 103 expressed their preference.
Why the referendum on the stop to electric scooters
Five years after the introduction of the self-serviceuse of the scooter in the city had become a cause for contention among the citizens of Paris. Mayor Hidalgo herself was in the forefront of this vote because she was personally in favor of the ban. The scooters were criticized for their danger on the roads: according to some estimates in 2022 they were reported 408 related accidents to private and rental electric scooters, which had caused 3 deaths and 459 injuries. In June 2021, a 32-year-old Italian woman who was hit by an electric scooter with two people on board also died. Operators were thus forced to limit speed to 10 km/h in 700 densely populated areas. Furthermore, criticisms had come for matters of decorum with mezzi that came abandoned everywhere in public spaces. And then there was also an environmentalist jab because, Hidalgo explained in the manifesto for the referendum, scooters were a “bad environmental balance”, as, despite being electric, they were thrown away after a few months.
Le rental companies operational in Paris are Lime, Dott and Tier which have around 15 vehicles. Already in November, the Municipality had threatened not to renew the licence, however finding an agreement. The three companies have tried to promote their cause, through messages on social networks, the use of influencers, leafleting and also through discounts on the use of the medium but without obtaining results, but rather only generating further controversy.
Paris it was one of the cities where electric scooters had become most popular (in the past there were about twenty operating sharing companies). Over the years, Hidalgo had already imposed various restrictions but now, if the mayor respects the promise of the result, Paris will become the first city in Europe a ban electric scooters.
